High Temperature Short Time Air Puffed Ready-To-Eat (RTE) Tapioca–Peanut Snack: Process Parameters Optimization

Abstract

Abstract Tapioca contains very high starch content and therefore could be used to obtain a good quality puffed product. Tapioca powder added with roasted peanut to give nutty flavor and taste was used to develop ready-to-eat (RTE) snack utilizing high temperature short time (HTST) air puffing process with center composite rotatable design (CCRD). The effects of process parameters viz., puffing temperature (200–260 °C), puffing time (30–90 s), and raw material parameters viz., initial moisture content (30–40%) and roasted peanut proportion (10–20%) on quality attributes such as final moisture content, expansion ratio, color (L value, a value), and crispness of the products were investigated and optimized using response surface methodology (RSM). The optimum quality attributes of the product in terms of final moisture content (4.7%db), expansion ratio (1.67), L value (70.96), a value (1.83), and crispness (12.1) were obtained with 20% added peanut, 35% initial moisture content, 245 °C puffing temperature and 60 s puffing time. The sensory evaluation of the optimally processed snack added with spices to enhance taste, showed the product to be crisp and highly acceptable.