Drying kinetics and quality of potato chips undergoing different drying techniques

Potato slices were dried using both low-pressure superheated steam drying (LPSSD) and hot air drying in this study. The effects of blanching as well as the drying temperature on the drying kinetics as well as various quality attributes of potato slices viz. color, texture, and brown pigment accumulation were also investigated. It was found that LPSSD took shorter time to dry the product to the final desired moisture content than that required by hot air drying when the drying temperatures were higher than 80 °C. Longer blanching time and lower drying temperature resulted in better color retention and led to chips of lower browning index. Blanching also reduced the hardness and shrinkage of the product; however, the use of different blanching periods did not significantly affect the product hardness. Drying methods had no obvious effect on the product quality except the browning index.