Effect of ultrasound and blanching on shrinkage of potato slices during frying

Given that shrinkage in fried products is seen as a negative feature from consumer’s point of view, some of the new pretreatments can be used to improve this quality characteristic and increase the popularity of the product. The purpose of the study was to investigate and model shrinkage during frying of potato slices pretreated with ultrasound and blanching. Potato slices, after the respective pretreatments were fried at three different temperatures (150, 170 and 190°C) and four various times (90, 180, 270 and 360 s). In this study, six experimental models were presented.to study shrinkage changes as a function of frying time. According to the results, all the pretreatments except the ultrasonic pretreatment for 40 minutes, reduced shrinkage of the samples compared with controls. Also, the applied models were well fitted to the experimental data with high R2 and low RMSE. These models can be useful in predicting the frying process and controlling final product quality.