Abstract
Effect of high pressure (HP) treatment (200–600 MPa; 0–20 min) on quality of fresh-cut carrot slices was evaluated after presoaking in selected calcium salt solutions (1% calcium chloride, 1% calcium lactate, 1% calcium gluconate, and distilled water as control) for one hour. Results showed that calcium chloride (CaCl2) solution pretreatment was most effective for preserving the hardness of carrot slices at 400 and 600 MPa and this treatment also resulted in the least amount of color change in carrots, followed by calcium lactate, gluconate, and control pretreatments. The average sensory evaluation scores during 9 days of refrigerated storage at 4°C in control, CaCl2, calcium lactate, and calcium gluconate presoaking treatments followed by HP treatment were 6.4 ± 0.5, 8.0 ± 0.5, 7.8 ± 0.4, and 7.6 ± 0.3, respectively, on a zero to 9 scale for quality.
Highlights
Carrot is a popular vegetable used to make salads and home-cooked meals and ready-to-eat products
With water as presoaking treatment, the hardness values after high pressure (HP) treatment at 200 MPa varied from 95.2% to 81.9%, significantly higher (P < 0.05) than at 400 MPa level and 600 MPa levels (66.1% to 64.7%)
Calcium chloride and weak organic acid salts like calcium propionate and lactate were very effective in maintaining fruit firmness during 8 days storage at 5∘C. These results suggested that the different calcium salts have different effects on texture of different vegetables
Summary
Carrot is a popular vegetable used to make salads and home-cooked meals and ready-to-eat products. Processed carrots are prepared by peeling off the outer layer of the carrots root and cutting to slices or cubes [1] and keeping them refrigerated in some form of containers/packaging Such practices usually suffer from browning, excessive microbial load, and tissue softening [2] that limits its market value and shelf life. Compared to traditional heating processes, HPP provides several advantages such as uniform pressure treatment, reduced thermal gradient, and short processing times. It can be used as a nonthermal alternative over the conventional thermal process for improving the shelf life and quality of foods [9]. Some pretreatment approaches have been employed in HPP to enhance carrot quality, such as pressure-assisted thermal processing [4], calcium pretreatment [14, 15], or their combinations
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