Abstract
The effects of blanching treatment on peroxidase inactivation, colour and texture of pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima L.) were studied in the temperature range of 75-95 °C. Peroxidase inactivation followed a first-order Arrhenius model, where the activation energy and rate of the reaction at a reference temperature of 85 °C were 86.20 ± 5.57 kJ mol-1 and 0.27 ± 0.01 min-1, respectively. During blanching, pumpkin became darker and softer with processing time. The degradation of colour (evaluated throughout CIE L*a*b* colour system, with chroma index and total colour difference) and texture parameters (firmness and energy) showed a fractional conversion model kinetics, being the temperature effect on kinetic parameters well described by the Arrhenius law. The results of this work are a good tool to further optimise pumpkin blanching conditions.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 693-701 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | Journal of Food Engineering |
Volume | 81 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Aug 2007 |
Keywords
- Blanching
- Colour
- Kinetic models
- Peroxidase
- Pumpkin
- Texture