Abstract
For the production of healthier fruit snacks, vacuum frying is a promising alternative for atmospheric frying, to reduce the oil content, while maintaining a high nutritional quality. This paper evaluates the effect of ripening stages, frying temperature, and time on the quality of vacuum-fried mango. Unripe mango was dehydrated faster than ripe mango and had a higher hardness after frying at 110 and 120°C. Fat content in fried ripe mango was higher. Total ascorbic acid and β-carotene in both ripening stages were not different, but after frying total ascorbic acid in unripe mango remains higher. A novel image analysis was applied to quantify the color distribution of fried mango. Color changes in unripe mango were more susceptible to temperature and time. Considering all quality parameters, vacuum frying of unripe mango at the optimal condition of 100°C for 20 min is preferred for producing high-quality healthier fruit snacks.
Highlights
Consumers have a strong desire for fried food products because of their unique flavor–texture combination
The total soluble solids (TSS) content increases due to hydrolysis of starch into sugars (14), while firmness of the fruits declines due to breakdown of the cell wall polysaccharide such as pectin (24)
There was no significant difference between hardness of unripe and ripe mango after vacuum frying at low temperatures (90–100◦C), but at higher temperatures (110–120◦C), unripe mango had a higher hardness value compared to ripe mango
Summary
Consumers have a strong desire for fried food products because of their unique flavor–texture combination. The increased awareness of consumers toward the relationship between food, nutrition, and health stimulates the food industry to use alternative processing methods complying the demand for healthier snacks. We study an alternative frying process to meet these demands by reducing the oil uptake and maintaining a high nutritional value. Deep-frying is heating and dehydrating foods with associated oil uptake by immersing them in an edible fat at 165–190◦C (1). In the framework of the increasing demand for healthier snack choices, industries are developing low-fat alternatives. Techniques such as drying, extrusion, and baking have not always been able to satisfactorily meet the sensory characteristics of fried foods (5). Vacuum frying might be a promising technology for healthier fried products
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