Processed Potato Products Research Articles

Simulation and Control of Glucose Concentration in Hot‐Water Blanching of Potatoes

AbstractThe methodology for online monitoring and computer control of glucose concentration in potatoes during hot‐water blanching is demonstrated. Process conditions, control parameters, and setpoints are determined with the aid of an unsteady‐state model. Glucose concentration in the blanch water is monitored and maintained at a setpoint value by adjustment of the fresh water flow rate to the blancher, while the glucose concentration of the potatoes is calculated by mass balance. Control is effected through feedback and anticipatory feedback control. Results indicate that glucose concentration in potatoes exiting the blancher may be maintained within 10% of the setpoint value. The use of computers to control glucose concentration in potatoes should prove useful in the control of the color and therefore the quality of processed potato products.

Effectiveness of generic and brand advertising on fresh and processed potato products

Since 1973, potato producers have used commodity advertising to increase the demand and value perception of fresh potatoes and processed potato products. Advertising dollars for generic promotion currently total $3.7 million annually, and these funds are generated from a check-off program which assesses producers 2.3 cents per hundredweight. Potato processors allocate an additional $46 million annually to advertise branded potato products. This research examines the effectiveness of these advertising dollars in increasing demand for potatoes. Results show that both brand and generic advertising are effective in stimulating demand for all processed potato products. Generic advertising does not positively impact the demand for fresh potatoes.

Changes in consumption of fresh potatoes by northeast consumers as they relate to purchase, use, and socio-economic characteristics

The increasing popularity of processed potato products over the past twenty years has been accompanied by a steep decline in per capita fresh potato consumption. For those firms involved in the production, marketing, and retailing of fresh potatoes, continuation of these trends could pose great economic difficulties in the future. An understanding of factors that have influenced fresh potato consumption in the past is essential if greater usage is to be encouraged in the future. Changes in past usage with regard to purchasing patterns, problems, and socio-economic characteristics were examined with the purpose of determining the relevant relationships. The predominate factors found determining fresh potato consumption were family composition, age, and per-capita income. Families which increased consumption were generally younger, larger, and had less per capita income than families which decreased consumption.

Demand Analyses of Selected Potato Products

During the past decade about 90 percent of the potatoes utilized for human consumption was used in the form of tablestock or fresh potatoes, frozen potato products, and potato chips and shoestring potatoes. Recent trends in the national per capita consumption of these potato products (Table 1) indicate that consumers have substituted processed potato products for fresh potatoes. In addition, the variety of package sizes for potato products, especially the processed products, has increased during this same ten year period.

Soggy-Centered French Fries

Abstract Using processing, microscopic, and biochemical techniques it was shown that the flabby middle region of soggy-centered french fries coincides with the potato tuber's pith region which contains much less starch than the perimedullary and cortex regions. The presence of these contrasting tissues within the same french fry strip, resulting in the soggy center phenomenon, is considered in relation to strip orientation within tubers. Severity of the problem appears to roughly correspond with the amount of pith tissue in the tuber, and both of these factors are largely variety-dependent. The paper underlines the significance of tuber histology in studies concerning the quality of processed potato products and its relevance in breeding programs.

A review of cellular structure, starch, and texture qualities of processed potatoes

Certain combined characteristics of cellular structure and starch properties provide distinctions between varieties of potatoes and bear strong relation to their culinary qualities. Larger tissue cells and larger average starch granules are associated with mealiness. Smaller cells and starch granules characterize the less mealy and “waxy” varieties. Similarly, the same general relationships hold for the varietal characteristics of high vs. low solids and high vs. low starch contents. Within a variety, proportionately larger numbers of large starch granules are associated with tubers of high specific gravity, and more smaller granules, with low specific gravity. There also is a distinct reduction in percent of small granules during storage of tubers. Differences in starch granule size are accompanied by differences in amylose and amylopectin. Small granules contain less amylose and gel at higher temperatures than do the larger starch granules. Amylose content likewise appears to be a varietal characteristic. These variations in amylose content reflect fundamental differences in the properties of the starch gels formed when different varieties of potatoes are cooked. Likewise, there are similar distinctions between the starches within different tissue zones of individual tubers. Cell size also varies characteristically within different tuber regions. Starch gel properties may be manipulated during processing by such treatments as precooking-heating, chilling, freezing, and thawing. These treatments provide some measure of control of textural quality in the finished product. Additives such as stearates or glycerides complex readily with amylose and also influence gel properties and texture in processed potato products. Sucrose accumulated during tuber storage also may increase gel strength and influence texture. Varietal differences in cell structure and in starch granule size and composition offer opportunities for genetic exploitation. The merits of special processing for texture control vs. development of varieties for specific processed product qualities are briefly discussed.

Processed potato products have large potential market

Processed potato products have large potential market

Biosynthesis of sucrose by preparations from potatoes stored in the cold and at room temperature.

PERHAPS the most pronounced and consistent metabolic response of potato tubers to stress situations, such as low and high temperatures, loss of water, and ionizing radiation, is the accumulation of sugars, especially sucrose. Although the relationship of sugar content to the so-called non-enzymatic browning of processed potato products has been amply documented1, the biochemical events which create a milieu favourable to accumulation of sucrose are unknown. Conceivably, this increase in sucrose could arise as the result of changes in amounts of enzymes involved in sugar formation from starch, as compared with those involved in removal of sucrose.

Processed potato products provide important outlet for U. S. crop

Processed potato products provide important outlet for U. S. crop

Interrelation among measurements of browning of processed potatoes and sugar components

A principal factor in assessment of quality of processed potato products is the Maillard-reaction-induced brown color which develops during processing (chips) or during subsequent storage (dehydrated dice). The present paper constitutes a statistical appraisal of the relationship between this browning and the individual reducing-sugar components of the raw tubers and dehydrated potato dice. Although correlation coefficients were greater than 0.9 (except for sucrose) comparison of standard errors of estimate and application of a parameter referred to herein as the “discriminatory index” reveals that sugar measurements, or combinations thereof, do not yield sufficient information to establish an exclusively complete causal relationship between reducing sugar components and extent and rate of browning. This is true despite the control or elimination of several factors usually overlooked in the pertinent measurements which might lead to the observed scatter. Possible auxiliary factors operating during the browning reaction, other than sugars and amino compounds, are discussed. Application of discriminatory indices to the data reveals reducing-sugar and glucose measurements as a more sensitive index of browning in potato chips than of browning rate of dehydrated potato dice. On the other hand, measurements of fructose and total sugar constitute equally reliable indices of both types of browning but at a lower sensitivity level. From the standpoint of prediction of quality of processed potato products in general, this analysis leads to the conclusion that subjective or semiquantitative appraisal of chip color may constitute at least as adequate an index of quality as any of the more elaborate objective measurements undertaken in the laboratory.

Recent developments in processed potato products

Recent developments in processed potato products