Physical and mechanical properties of three varieties of potato for production of the fried products

Potato is one of the strategic agricultural products and is a main food in many of developing countries. Potato chips and slices are one of the most important industrial products. The use of inappropriate varieties as raw material in Iran is one of the challenges of processing. This study was conducted to evaluate and compare the physical and mechanical properties of three potato varieties (Agria, Almera and Marfona) in order to address the most suitable variety for the production of potato chips and slices. For this purpose, the physical and some mechanical properties of the varieties, including modulus of elasticity, coefficient of restitution and punching energy were determined and compared. Prior to determination of the mechanical properties, in order to provide the same experimental conditions for three varieties, some factors affecting on the modulus of elasticity and coefficient of restitution of tubers were evaluated. The results showed that three varieties were not significantly different for physical features. Therefore, one of the varieties cant be selected according to the physical features. But comparison of mechanical properties of three varieties showed that the Agria variety had the highest values of mechanical features, and its texture is more uniform compared to other two varieties. The advantage of this variety makes it to absorb less oil in their tissues in the process of frying. This reduces grease and sticky texture of the chips. Also, that would reduce the product cost remarkably.