Texture and in vitro starch digestion kinetics of French fries produced from potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) pre-treated with pulsed electric fields.

The impact of Pulsed Electric Field (PEF) processing pre-treatment on the texture and kinetics of in vitro starch digestibility of French fries made from two potato cultivars (Solanum tuberosum L.) containing dry matter content ranging from 19 to 22% was investigated. Whole and steam-peeled potato tubers were treated with a pilot scale PEF unit (electric field strength of 1.1 and 1.9 kV/cm with energy input <10 kJ/kg or ~50 kJ/kg). This trial was carried out in a commercial French-fry plant using an industrial scale cutter, blancher, fryer and blast-freezer to prepare the frozen par-fried French fry samples. After subsequent final batch frying of the frozen fries, at 180°C for 3min to mimic the typical preparation practice at restaurant, retail and household, the outer crust of the fries produced from PEF-treated potatoes was significantly harder (9.4-16.3 N) than crust produced from untreated potatoes (6.9-8.5 N). High intensity (1.9 kV/cm with...