Treatment Period of High-Pressure Enzymatic Hydrolysis: A Key Factor Determining the Quality of High-Pressure Enzymatic Hydrolysates from Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis (Kolbe) Larvae

Hydrolyzed proteins have an advantage over intact proteins in terms of their rate of digestion and absorption. The high-pressure enzymatic extraction (HPE) method has been shown to improve the quality characteristics of hydrolysates from Protaetia brevitarsis seulensis (Kolbe) larvae (PBSL). This study investigated the effects of the HPE treatment period, a key candidate factor, on the quality characteristics of PBSL HPE hydrolysates. The hydrolysates were prepared by HPE for 0, 12, 18, 24, 30, and 36 h under optimized conditions—solid:solvent ratio (1:14 [w/v]), using complex proteases (Alcalase:Flavorzyme:Bromelain = 1:1:1, 4%), treatment temperature (50oC), and pressure level (100 MPa). All quality characteristics tended to be superior with longer HPE treatment periods, most of which had the highest values at 30 h, with no significant difference or a slight decrease after that. The quality characteristics of the PBSL HPE hydrolysates were improved by 1.3-1.7 times under conditions of optimal HPE treatment period.