Understanding the Effect of Vacuum Level in Structure Development and Oil Absorption in Vacuum-Fried Wheat Starch and Gluten-Based Snacks

Vacuum frying has gained a significant strategic importance for future fried food manufacturing since, due to the low-temperature processing, significant benefits such as the improvement of fried product safety and quality can be obtained. So far, all studies have focused on agricultural products, such as potatoes, which are already structured by nature, but none of them has included fabricated products. This imposes a challenge since minimum conditions must be ensured to form structure during processing. The objective of this work was to understand the role of water boiling point (T _bp) and processing temperature (T _oil) in structure formation, oil absorption, and most important quality attributes of starch-based products during vacuum frying. Fabricated products were made of a reconstituted blend of gluten (12 % d.b.) and wheat starch (88 % d.b.) in order to accurately control ingredients proportion. Samples were fried varying the T _bp from 38 to 71 °C while keeping a thermal driving force of 70 °C (i.e., T _oil???T _bp?=?70 °C). Another set of samples was fried varying the thermal driving force from 37 to 70 °C while maintaining a T _bp of 71 °C. Results showed that a higher T _bp favored the capacity of the matrix to form structure due to starch gelatinization in the presence of water and temperature, reducing the oil content of the fried products. This was confirmed by scanning electron microphotographs. Results were consistent with textural measurements that showed a higher breaking force as the processing pressure increased (i.e., T _bp), which was inversely related to oil absorption (R ²?=?0.92). In accordance, this study allows understanding the effect of vacuum level in structure development and oil absorption in vacuum-fried products when different food building blocks (gluten and wheat starch) are combined.     

Effect of chemical preservatives on shelf life of mushroom (Pleurotus ostreatus) cultivated on cassava peels

Short shelf life is a major impediment to the processing and distribution of mushroom. The effect of chemical preservatives on some quality attributes of mushroom during storage was investigated. Mushroom were soaked in four preservatives at two concentrations for 10 mins, packaged, stored at 4 °C for 30 days and analysed at intervals for their microbial population, colour, firmness and weight loss. Sodium benzoate (0.05%, 0.1%) lost its preservative effect on all the micro‐organisms enumerated after 3 days, and samples treated with 0.1% potassium sorbate had the lowest microbial load at the end of the storage period. Change in colour of the potassium sorbate (0.1%)‐treated sample was lower than and significantly different from the citric acid (2%, 4%)‐treated samples. The values of the firmness of the 4% citric acid preserved mushroom were significantly different (P ≤ 0.05) from other samples throughout the storage period. There was a significant negative correlation (r = ?0.807, P < 0.01) between the firmness and weight loss of the preserved mushroom. Potassium sorbate (0.1%) and citric acid (4%) extended the shelf life of mushroom for 24 days.     

Water Sorption Isotherms and Crispness of Fried Yam Chips in the Temperature Range from 293K to 313K

Water sorption isotherms of fried yam chips were determined using a static gravimetric method with saturated salt solutions in the range of water activity between 0.22 and 0.85 at 293, 303 and 313K. Four sorption models namely GAB, Peleg, modified Mizrahi, and BET were fitted with the sorption data generated. The GAB model followed by Peleg and modified Mizrahi models were found to best represent the experimental data in the a_w range of 0.22–0.85. However, the BET model was more applicable between a_w range of 0.22–0.55. The adsorption isotherm of fried yam chips clearly showed the influence of temperature, decreasing the moisture content at a fixed water activity value with higher temperature. The net isosteric heats of sorption of water were estimated by applying the Clausius–clapeyron equation to the adsorption isotherms at different temperatures. The net isosteric heat of sorption was observed to be decreasing as moisture content increases. Samples stored in desiccators of 0.44 and 0.55 a_w at 303 and 313K, respectively, were rated higher in terms of textural properties investigated.     

Convective hot air drying of blanched yam slices

In this study, a laboratory convective hot air dryer was used for the thin layer drying of blanched yam slices and experimental moisture ratio was compared with Newton, Logarithmic, Henderson and Pabis, modified Henderson and Pabis, approximation of diffusion, modified page 1, two-term exponential, Verma et al. and Wang and Singh models. Among all the models, the approximation of diffusion model was found to satisfactorily describe the kinetics of air-drying of blanched yam slices. The increase in air temperature significantly reduced the drying time with no constant rate period but drying occurs in falling rate period. The effective diffusivity values varied between 7.62 × 10⁻⁸ to 9.06 × 10⁻⁸ m² s⁻¹ and increased with increase in temperature. An Arrhenius relation with an activation energy value of 8.831 kJ mol⁻¹ showed the effect of temperature on moisture diffusivity.     

Optimization of Blanching Conditions Prior to Deep Fat Frying of Yam Slices

The effect of low-temperature blanching and frying time at a frying temperature of 170°C on moisture and oil contents, breaking force and colour of yam chips was investigated using response surface methodology to establish the optimum blanching conditions and frying time. A central composite rotatable design was used to study the effects of variation in levels of blanching temperature (60–80°C), blanching time (1–5 min) and frying time (2–6 min) on quality attributes of yam chips. The effect of blanching temperature and frying time was more significant than the time of blanching on the quality attributes. The response variables were fitted to predictive models applying multiple linear regressions. Statistical analysis with response surface regression showed that moisture content, oil content, breaking force and L? (lightness) parameter were significantly (P < 0.05) correlated with blanching temperature and time and frying time. However, the regression equation showed a poor fit for a? and b? respectively. The optimum conditions were a blanching temperature of 70–75°C, blanching time of 4–5 min while frying for about 5 min.     

Development of low-fat gluten and starch fried matrices with high fiber content

Low-fat and high dietary-fiber diets are important elements in the prevention of chronic diseases. The objective of this work was to understand the effect of wheat bran inclusion in large amounts to a gluten–starch matrix, in structure formation and associated quality attributes, during deep-fat frying. Matrices were prepared mixing 12 g of gluten and 88 g of wheat starch per 100 g of dry solids, ensuring a moisture content of 40 g water/100 g dough. Starch was gradually replaced by wheat bran (up to 40 g/100 g dry solids), and lack of structure formation was overcome by partially replacing starch with pregelatinized corn starch. Samples were fried at 170 °C and oil absorption in high fiber products was reduced through post-frying centrifugation. Pregelatinized corn starch addition allowed obtaining an adequate structure in formulations with high wheat bran content, reducing oil absorption by 35% in formulations with up to 20 g wheat bran/100 g dry solids. It was possible to obtain a low-fat product (70% reduction) with high fiber content (40 g/100 g dry solids) after centrifugation, confirming the importance of oil absorption during post-frying cooling.