Vacuum Frying of Potato Chips Vacuum Impregnated With
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VACUUM FRYING OF POTATO CHIPS VACUUM IMPREGNATED WITH GREEN TEA PHENOLIC COMPOUNDS A Thesis by SILVIA VERONICA LOPEZ NAVARRO Submitted to the Office of Graduate and Professional Studies of Texas A&M University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF SCIENCE Chair of Committee, Rosana G. Moreira Committee Members, Elena Castell-Perez Stephen Talcott Head of Department, Stephen W. Searcy August 2018 Major Subject: Biological and Agricultural Engineering Copyright 2018 Silvia Veronica Lopez Navarro ABSTRACT Due to the current consumer health concerns regarding processed foods, there is an increasing market interest on highly nutritious foods. One method to improve their nutritional value is to introduce health-benefiting compounds to the food matrix using technology such as vacuum impregnation. Potato chips, one of the most popular snacks in the US, lack the proper nutrition because of their high fat and carbohydrate content. The purpose of this study was to increase the nutritional value of potato chips by introducing phenolic compounds from green tea extract using two major processes: vacuum impregnation (VI) and vacuum frying (VF). The main objective was to test the feasibility of these two processes to produce potato chips enriched with antioxidants without detrimental effects to product quality. Total phenolic content (TPC) was first measured to determine the optimal VI parameters. The potato chips were then vacuum fried at oil temperatures of 110˚C, 120˚C, and 140˚C for times ranging from 20 seconds to 12 minutes to test the thermal degradability of the antioxidants. Three different frying systems were also compared: vacuum frying (VF), dual step frying (DS), and atmospherics frying (AF). A green tea concentration of 5.0%, vacuum time of 10 minutes, and a pressure of 600 mmHg yielded the maximum TPC of 196.11 mg GAE/100 g of dry potato. Contrary to previous findings, the TPC increased non-linearly with increasing temperature. While samples fried at 120°C showed an overall greater phenolic augmentation, at the frying times where MC < 2%, samples fried at 140°C showed the maximum TPC increase of ii 237.48%. The dehydration rate increased with increasing temperatures and the oil absorption with increased logarithmically increasing times. Using optimal VI and VF parameters (140°C, 100 seconds), the 3 frying systems were compared. Samples fried using the AF system contained double the oil content as those fried using the VF or DS systems. VF had the highest percentage in TPC increase (208.88%), while AF had the lowest (163.21%). The 30-particapant panel gave the vacuum fried samples all passing scores (>5) with texture acquiring the highest average score of 6.63 ± 1.94. In conclusion, vacuum impregnation was successfully used as a precursor of vacuum frying to create potato chips with a high phenolic content. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my greatest and sincerest of gratitude to my advisor and committee chair Dr. Rosana G. Moreira for not only accepting me as one of her graduate students, but also for recommending this research project. Dr. Moreira has been not only supportive through her guidance but also showed impeccable patience and understanding. This can also be said of Dr. Elena Castell-Perez and Dr. Stephen Talcott. They both have been incredible mentors. Their unique perspective on the research topic helped me compose a solid thesis. I also want to thank Paulo Da Silva and Spencer Corry for lending me a substantial part of their time to help me improve my study procedures and data collection strategies. Thank you, Paulo, for sharing your knowledge with me by answering the hundreds of questions I asked you daily. Personally, no one aided me more than my two amazing friends, Romina del Bosque and Stacy Cereceres. I will never be able to repay all the help you both gave to me through some of the toughest of times. Additionally, I want to thank all my office friends—Brinda Joshi, Mauricio Martinon, and Samar Almohaimeed—for your great support and companionship. iv DEDICATION Dedico esta tesis a las dos personas que han trabajado todas sus vidas, sin descanso, para crear un mundo lleno de oportunidades para mí, el cual la vida les ha negado: Mamá y Papá. Esta tesis es un ladrillo más que construye el camino hacia un futuro donde yo les podre brindar la libertad de disfrutar sus vidas. Mi verdadero triunfo en la vida será llegar a ser alguien con al menos una parte de su devoción, nobleza y amor. Nuevamente, dedico este logro, así como todo mi crecimiento y éxito, a ambos. Los amo con toda mi alma. Abuelita, aunque solo va a estar conmigo en espíritu, esta etapa en mi vida, todo lo que he logrado, y todo lo que lograré, también es por usted. La extrañare hasta el día que nos volvamos a ver. Juan, no sé qué nos depara el futuro, pero también te quiero dedicar este logro. Nunca olvidaré todo lo que has hecho por mí durante mis años de postgrado. Gracias por ser simplemente tu. En fin, esta tesis no es solo logro mio, pero tambien el de toda mi familia: Laura, William, y mis tios. Solo Dios sabe cuánto los amo. v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES This work was supervised by a thesis committee consisting of Professor Rosana Moreira and Elena Castell-Perez of the Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering and Professor Stephen Talcottt of the Department of Nutrition and Food Science Department. All work for the thesis was completed independently by the student. A substantial part my graduate research was funded by the National Science Foundation through the LSAMP BTD scholarship. I would like to thank the organization for such an amazing opportunity. Not having to worry about funding for my graduate research took a great worry off my shoulders. I want to thank Dr. Samuel Merriweather, Shawanee Patrick, Shannon Walton, John Avila, and all other LSAMP BTD staff that persistently helped me with my all my financial problems and kept me focus on my goals. The final two semesters of my graduate studies were paid through a TA job and the BAEN Competitive Scholarship offered to me by the Biological & Agricultural Engineering department. Therefore, I like to thank the department for aiding my financial needs towards the end period of graduate degree. Lastly, I want to thank Col. Russell McGee and Dr. Gerald Riskowski for letting me help with AGSM 440. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. iv DEDICATION ................................................................................................................... v CONTRIBUTORS AND FUNDING SOURCES ............................................................. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ................................................................................................. vii LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................................ x LIST OF TABLES ........................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................ 1 CHAPTER II HYPOTHESIS AND OBJECTIVES .......................................................... 4 2.1 Hypothesis .............................................................................................................. 4 2.2 Objectives ............................................................................................................... 4 CHAPTER III LITERATURE REVIEW .......................................................................... 6 3.1 Potatoes .................................................................................................................. 6 3.2 Green Tea Extract ................................................................................................... 9 3.2.1 Green Tea Health Benefits .......................................................................... 12 3.3 Antioxidant Thermal Stability .............................................................................. 14 3.4 Application of Antioxidants in Frying Processes ................................................. 16 3.5 Vacuum Impregnation .......................................................................................... 20 3.6 Vacuum Frying ..................................................................................................... 24 CHAPTER IV MATERIALS AND METHODS ............................................................. 28 4.1 Preparation ........................................................................................................... 28 4.1.1 Raw Material ............................................................................................... 28 4.1.2 Sample Preparation ..................................................................................... 28 4.2 Vacuum Impregnation (VI) .................................................................................. 28 4.2.1 Vacuum Impregnation Solution Preparation ............................................... 28 4.2.2 Vacuum Impregnation System .................................................................... 29 vii 4.3 Vacuum Frying (VF) ............................................................................................ 31 4.3.1 Vacuum