Apparent diffusivities of reducing sugars in potato strips blanched in water

The mechanism of reducing sugar losses was investigated in potatoes cut into 9.5 × 9.5 mm and 13 × 13 mm strips and blanched for 300–2400s at different temperatures between 70°C and 100°C. Experiments were carried out using large amounts of well-agitated water. Assuming no chemical reaction and using appropriate solutions of the unsteady state diffusion equation for square parallelpiped geometry, the apparent diffusivities, D_a, of reducing sugars in the potato matrix were determined at different temperatures. the incorporation of the dimensions of the strips in the solution of the diffusion equation was sufficient to explain the effect of size on losses. Values of D_a were found to be in the range 1.2 × 10^-11 1.7 × 10^-11 m²s^-1 and could be correlated with temperature according to the Arrhenius law.