AIR FRYING: A NEW PROCESS FOR HEALTHIER FRENCH FRIED POTATOES

Heredia, A.*; Mas, S.; Castell, M.; Andrs, A. Institute of Food Engineering for Development, Universidad Politcnica de Valencia Camino de Vera s/n, P.O. Box 46022 Valencia (Spain) *mail contact: anhegu@tal.upv.es ABSTRACT The aim of this work was to compare traditional deep-oil frying with air-hot frying, novel technique which allows obtaining low-fat fried food, in terms of mass transfer phenomena and volume changes associated. With this aim, fresh and pretreated, under blanching or freezing, French fries were submitted to hot-air or deep-oil frying at 180 C. Obtained results showed that oil uptake was rather lower under hot-air frying confirming this technique as a healthier one. The analysis of the ratio R (mass loss/ water loss) along the process and the correlation between water loss and volumen changes allowed to describe the different steps of both frying processes in terms of mass transfer phenomena. Keywords: French fries; Hot-air Frying; Deep-oil frying; Mass transfer phenomena 1. INTRODUCTION Deep-oil frying, based on the immersion of the product in oil at a temperature of 150200 C, is the most currently method to fry in order to obtain crunchy and tasty foodstuffs. The high temperature causes an evaporation of the water, which moves away from the food and, oil is absorbed by food at the same time, replacing some of lost water (Moreira, Palau, & Sin, 1995). Nevertheless, the reduction of the lipid content in fried foods is required mainly owing to its relation with obesity and coronary diseases. With this aim, either alternative frying technology such as vacuum, pressure or microwave, a pre-frying step or the use of edible coatings have been studied. Hot-air frying is a novel method consisting on frying food with a small amount of oil dispersed in a stream of hot air as external fluid. The product is constantly moved in the air-frying chamber to favour the mass and heat transfer between the product and the external fluid. The purpose of the present work was to analyze the hot-air frying process in terms of mass transfer phenomena and volume changes associated and to compare the results with those obtained with deep frying, paying special attention to oil uptake fluxes. Concretely, fresh and pretreated, under blanching or freezing, french fries were submitted to hot-air or deep-oil frying at 180 C. 1

2. MATERIALS AND METHODS Raw material, Methodology and Equipments Fresh potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L., Mona Lisa variety) were washed, sorted, peeled and cut by means of a manual cutter into strips of 0.009 m x 0.009 m x 0.03 m. Frying process, either deep-oil or hot-air frying, were carried out in (i) control or unpretreated strips, (ii) strips blanched in hot water at 90 C for 1 min, and (iii) commercial frozen pre-fried potato strips with an initial fat content of 3 % with similar dimensions. Experiments were carried out at a fixed frying temperature of 180 C in commercial equipments for deep oil-frying (Solac) and hot air-frying (Tefal). Three samples were removed from the frying equipment at 3 min interval for hot air-frying experiments (total processing time: 30 min) and 2 min interval (total processing time: 16 min) for deep-oil frying for analytical determinations. Analytical Determinations Water content was analysed by vacuum drying at 60 C until constant weight was achieved (20.103 AOAC, 1980). The oil content was determined by the method of Bligh and Dyer (1959). Volume was analyzed by means of picnometer using distilled water as a reference liquid. All analytical determinations were carried out by triplicate for each time of frying process. Mathematical procedure Net fluxes of total mass (Mot), and components (Mit), water (Mwt) and fat (Mfatt), were calculated according to Heredia & Andrs (2008). Volume variation (Vot) experimented by the samples at each time was obtained as follows (Eq. (I)): Vt o (Vt o V0o ) V0o (I)

Where Vot and Vo0 are volume sample at time t and 0, respectively. 3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Figure 1 shows fat gain flux along deep-oil and hot-air frying. In general, it could be observed that most of fat gain took place during 2 first min of the process, and especially for untreated French fries. In fact, vegetal tissue contraction at the beginning of the process favored oil penetration in the superficial layer. Nevertheless, this phenomenon was not registered in blanched French fries since this contraction occurs during the previous blanching step given as a result a reduction of oil absorption during frying. Frozen French fries absorbed the least amount of oil during conventional frying; whereas a negative oil flux

was registered under hot-air frying in spite of they presented the high oil content among the samples fried in hot-air (data not shown). Finally, it might be pointed out that fat gain was approximately ten times higher during deep-oil frying than hot-air frying, confirming this last technique as healthier one. Regarding the mass and water, the R ratio value (R= Mot /Mwt) can be used to understand the process. Figure 2 shows R ratio value at different processing time. As can be observed, two steps were mainly identified: Step I characterized by the intake (R<1) or loss (R>1) of fat at the beginning of the process; Step II where R is nearly equal to 1 indicating that total mass loss is exclusively due to water loss. It can be said that the analysis of R ratio (mass loss/ water loss) along the process on one hand, and the correlation between water loss and volumen changes (figure 3) on the other hand, allowed describing the different steps of both frying processes in terms of mass transfer phenomena. Finally, figure 3 shows the different steps previously identified taken into account the evolution of total volume in relation to water loss along frying: Step I or Volume Loss Step in which volume loss is due to the tissue contraction by the thermal shock but mainly to water loss; Step II or Volume Recovery Step only observed in unpretreated and blanched samples submitted to deep-oil frying, in which global heat transfer coefficient is high enough to provoke water evaporation inside the potato tissue. Vapour expansion induces volume recovery as a consequence of porosity increase; Step III or Volume constant step in which it is observed a loss of water without change of volume due to the vitreous crust formation. 4. CONCLUSIONS Obtained results showed that oil uptake was rather lower under hot-air frying confirming this technique as a healthier one. Regarding to the effect of the sample pretreatment, freezed samples reduced its initial oil content during air fying process and they showed the lowest oil uptake under deep frying.The analysis of the ratio R (mass loss/ water loss) along the process and the correlation between water loss and volumen changes allowed to describe the different steps of both frying processes in terms of mass transfer phenomena. 5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Authors would like to thank to the Universidad Politcnica de Valencia (PAID-06-09-2876) for the financial support given to this investigation. 6. REFERENCES AOAC. (1980). Association of Official Analytical Chemist. Official methods of Analysis. Washington DC.

Bligh, E. G., & Dyer, W. (1959). A rapid method of total lipid extraction and purification. Canadian Journal of Biochemistry and Physiology, 37, 911917. Heredia, A. & Andrs, A. (2008). Mathematical Equations to Predict Mass Fluxes and Compositional Changes During Osmotic Dehydration of Cherry Tomato Halves. Drying Technology: An International Journal, 26(7), 873-883. Moreira, R. G., Palau, J., & Sin, X. (1995). Simultaneous heat and mass transfer during the deep fat frying of tortilla chips. Journal of Food Process Engineering, 18, 307320.
0,05 0,04 0,03 Unpretreated Frozen Blanched 0,02 0,015 0,01 Unpretreated Frozen Blanched

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Figure 1. Net oil gain flux (Mfatt) in French fries at different times of deep-oil frying (closed symbols) and hot-air frying

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Figure 2. Evolution of R ratio in French fries during deep-oil frying (closed symbols) and hot-air frying (empty symbols).

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Figure 3. Correlation between total volumen variation and water loss during deep-oil frying (closed symbols) and hot-air