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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Albany, California » Western Regional Research Center » Healthy Processed Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #339156
Research Project: New Sustainable Processing Technologies to Produce Healthy, Value-Added Foods from Specialty Crops

Location: Healthy Processed Foods Research

Title: Recent developments and trends in thermal blanching - a comprehensive review

Author
item XIO, HONG-WEI - China Agricultural University
item Pan, Zhongli
item TANG, JUMING - Washington State University
item EL-MASHAD, HAMED - University Of California
item DENG, LI-ZHEN - China Agricultural University
item MUJUMDAR, ARUN - McGill University - Canada
item GAO, ZHEN-JIANG - China Agricultural University
item ZHANG, QIAN - Shihezi University

Submitted to: Information Processing in Agriculture
Publication Type: Review Article
Publication Acceptance Date: 2/6/2017
Publication Date: 6/1/2017
Citation: Xio, H., Pan, Z., Tang, J., El-Mashad, H.M., Deng, L., Mujumdar, A.S., Gao, Z., Zhang, Q. 2017. Recent developments and trends in thermal blanching - a comprehensive review. Information Processing in Agriculture. 4(2):101-127. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inpa.2017.02.001.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.inpa.2017.02.001

Interpretive Summary: Blanching is a very important unit operation in fruits and vegetables processing. It not only affects the inactivation of PPO, POD, but also affects other quality attributes of products. Thermal blanching can inactivate enzymes present in products, enhance dehydration rate, remove pesticide residue, and reduce microbial load. To select a suitable blanching technology, it is crucial to understand the mechanisms of different blanching technologies; physical and chemical properties of the products; and the effect of different technologies on the quality attributes of final products, and the environment. This manuscript is aimed to provide a comprehensive review of available blanching technologies and their merits; how to choose a blanching method for different uses to minimize nutrients loss, environment load and cost of production; and to maximize nutrients retention, sustainability of the process, and energy efficiency to produce better quality products. Moreover, future perspectives and research needs are presented.

Technical Abstract: The objectives of this article were to review the purposes of blanching, the principal operational concepts and limitations and current status of different blanching methods. Moreover, future perspectives and research needs are presented. Blanching is a very important unit operation in fruits and vegetables processing. The purposes of blanching include inactivating enzymes, enhancing drying rate and product quality, removing pesticide residues and toxic constituents, expelling air in plant tissues, and decreasing microbial load. Different blanching methods and conditions affect the contents of POD, PPO, ascorbic acid, color, and texture of products. They also normally serve as indicators of the effectiveness of different blanching methods. Selecting a blanching technology that could achieve the desire product quality and reduce the negative environmental foot print is also important. It is needed to understand the mechanisms of different blanching technologies; physical and chemical properties of the products; and the effect of different technologies on the quality attributes of final products, and the environment.