Study on the effect of microwave pre-treatment on the quality of air-dried potato sticks using response surface methodology

In this research, the effect of microwave pre-treatment on qualitative characteristics and sensory properties of air-dried potato sticks was investigated. Different powers (180-900W) and times (1-5 minutes) of microwave were used before air-drying of samples. The moisture content, rehydration, shrinkage, browning, colour indices and sensory properties (taste, colour, shape, strength, and total acceptance) of potato samples were evaluated after the drying process and the response surface method (RSM) was used to determine the optimal conditions for the microwave pre-treatment. Used for the highest levels of physicochemical and sensory properties. The results showed that, with increasing the power and time of the microwave oven resulted in an increase in the moisture content, shrinkage, rehydration and total colour change of the samples. Sensory evaluation results showed that in the microwave pre-treatment, only the scores of the taste and colour of potato samples were influenced by the microwave power and time. According to the results of optimization by the surface response method, the power of 180 Watts and the time of 3.5 minutes for the microwave pre-treatment were introduced as optimum conditions.