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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 #353456
Research Project: New Sustainable Processing Technologies to Produce Healthy, Value-Added Foods from Specialty Crops

Location: Healthy Processed Foods Research

Title: Development of healthy crispy carrot snacks using sequential infrared blanching and hot air drying method

Author
item CHEN, JING - China Agricultural University
item VENKITASAMY, CHANDRASEKAR - University Of California, Davis
item SHEN, QUN - China Agricultural University
item McHugh, Tara
item ZHANG, RUIHONG - University Of California, Davis
item Pan, Zhongli

Submitted to: LWT - Food Science and Technology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 7/14/2018
Publication Date: 7/17/2018
Citation: Chen, J., Venkitasamy, C., Shen, Q., McHugh, T.H., Zhang, R., Pan, Z. 2018. Development of healthy crispy carrot snacks using sequential infrared blanching and hot air drying method. LWT - Food Science and Technology. 97(2018):469-475. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2018.07.026.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lwt.2018.07.026

Interpretive Summary: Sequential infrared (IR) blanching and hot air (HA) drying is a sustainable technology with high processing and energy efficiencies. To develop a healthy crispy carrot snack, the carrot slices were blanched with IR at different intensities followed by HA drying at different temperatures. The results showed that IR blanching at the temperatures of 60, 70 and 80°C resulted in the reduction of the drying time by 32.3%, 41.1% and 45.0%, respectively, and produced redder and crispier products with less residual peroxidase (POD) activity, compared to the treatments without blanching. In addition, the sequential IR blanched and HA dried carrot chips had higher vitamin C contents. In summary, sequential IR blanching and HA drying can be a potential application for producing carrot snacks for improving both the sensory and nutritional quality of the products.

Technical Abstract: Sequential infrared (IR) blanching and hot air (HA) drying is a sustainable technology with high processing and energy efficiencies. To develop a healthy crispy carrot snack, the carrot slices were blanched with IR at different intensities followed by HA drying at different temperatures. The results showed that IR blanching at the temperatures of 60, 70 and 80°C resulted in the reduction of the drying time by 32.3%, 41.1% and 45.0%, respectively, and produced redder and crispier products with less residual peroxidase (POD) activity, compared to the treatments without blanching. In addition, the sequential IR blanched and HA dried carrot chips had higher vitamin C contents. Low IR blanching temperatures resulted in lower total carotenoid loss of the dried carrot samples. The optimal conditions were 552 watts, 70 mm between the samples and the emitter, 110 s for IR blanching, and 80°C and 45 min for HA drying. In summary, sequential IR blanching and HA drying can be a potential application for producing carrot snacks for improving both the sensory and nutritional quality of the products.