Frying is a structure-building process that imparts desirable crispy textures to potato prod-
ucts by dehydration and oil infiltration. In French fries, the large moisture gradient between
two structural macro-domains (core and crust) that provides desirable sensorial traits also
induces a fast moisture transfer, and the rapid emergence of limpness during the post-frying
period. In potato chips, water uptake from the environment and diffusion into the interior
causes softening within hours. Researchers have used several instrumental techniques to
quantify the loss of texture in fried potato products, including sensorial, mechanical and
acoustical means. The extreme histological and microstructural heterogeneity of potato
tubers is responsible for a large variability in experimental data and the problem to interpret
observed trends in texture. Nevertheless, several models have been proposed to derive
critical parameters of the frying process and to assess the texture during and after frying. The
tremendous effort in recent years to understand the mechanisms of structure build-up and
texture loss may result in innovative solutions to retain the quality of fried potato products.
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