Abstract

The objective of this work was to study the effects of soaking pretreatments, frying time and temperature, and oil content on texture and glass transition properties of French fried potatoes. Sodium chloride and total sugar contents showed a significant difference (P < 0.05) between soaked samples and an unsoaked control. Texture parameters such as rigidity, work and maximum force showed that, up to 2 min of frying, these values decreased. Thereafter, there was a significant increase in these values as frying time increased beyond 3 min as confirmed by a Taguchi statistical analysis. Glass transition temperature (Tg) was higher at the crust than in the strip center for all products and a control sample. This may have been due not only to differences in water content, but also dependent on the presence of other molecules that may have acted as plasticizers. As expected, the extent of starch gelatinization was greater at the crust for all treatments.