INSTRUMENTAL AND SENSORY EVALUATION OF TEXTURAL CHANGES DURING ROASTING OF CASHEW KERNELS

Textural changes in cashew kernels roasted in hot‐air oven at controlled temperatures in the range of 140–180C for 30–120 min were studied using both instrumental and sensory evaluations. The Kramer shear force decreased exponentially, whereas the color lightness index and the total color difference exhibited linear relationships with roasting time at all temperatures. The changes in sensory parameters such as acceptability, appearance and taste were adequately described by third‐degree polynomials. The optimum roasting conditions for cashew kernels based on hedonic sensory evaluations were determined to be 140C–33.3 min, 160C–11.2 min and 180C–5.7 min, and resulted in similar values of Kramer shear force and color lightness index estimated from the developed models. The instrumental measurements could be used for monitoring the roasting process to produce optimally roasted cashew kernels.