44F-13 |
The effect of pre-cooking and partial drying on the crispness of cassava chips |
H. C. MENEZES, Departamento de Tecnologia de Alimentos, Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, CP 6121, Cidade Universitária Zeferino Vaz, Campinas, SP, 13083-970, Brazil and R. K. Grizotto. The use of root crops other than potato for the production of oil fried chips, has been widely investigated. The main impediment for the production of chips from cassava is their texture. In preliminary tests it was shown that the frying of 1.1 to 1.5mm thick peeled cassava slices in hot (170-180°C) oil, resulted in hard rough chips. It was assumed that treatments resulting in loosening of the intercellular pectic substances, previously released from the cells, might give rise to softer crispier chips, a hypothesis already raised for cellular separation in potato. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of pre-cooking and partial drying on the crispness of 2 varieties of cassava: IAC Mantiqueira and IAC576.70. The evaluation was based on the breakability of the chips as measured by the Texture Analyzer TA:XT2, and sensorially by affective tests. A significant correlation (-0.90592; p=0.05) was found between breakability and sensory acceptance of the chips for the variety IAC Mantiqueira. The absence of correlation (0.66069; p>0.05) for the variety IAC576.70 was considered highly positive, since the chips were accepted despite their high breakability. Based on the sensory characteristics of the chips, the parameters selected for the variety IAC Mantiqueira were: cooking in boiling water for 5 minutes or cooking in boiling water for 3 minutes followed by a partial drying in a forced air chamber (t=3h; T=50°C) before frying. For the variety IAC576.70, the parameters selected were: cooking in boiling water for a maximum of 5 minutes or cooking in a steam chamber for 3-5 minutes, before frying. The production of acceptable chips from cassava, a cheap, easy to grow root crop in Brazil, was shown to be technologically viable.
Session 44F, Product Development
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