Abstract
ABSTRACT Peanut blanching consists of heat application followed by abrasive removal of the seed coat. The use of a continuous microwave system for the blanching of peanuts has been proposed as a means of reducing processing time and energy costs compared to the traditional hot‐air, multizone oven. The purpose of this research was to characterize effective processing parameters for microwave blanching. The factors examined were the time of exposure in the microwave, use of increased airflow in the microwave applicator during processing and the initial moisture content (MC) of the peanuts. Processing treatments were differentiated by energy absorbed during processing, average and maximum internal temperature, loss in MC and blanchability. High blanchability resulted from higher process temperatures and greater loss in MC. Treatments exceeding 110C resulting in a final MC of 5.5% or below yielded blanchability percentages greater than the 85% industry standard. The time required to generate sufficient heat to dry peanuts for acceptable blanchability is greatly reduced by the use of microwave technology.
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