Effect of thickness on non-fried potato chips subjected to infrared radiation blanching and drying

This study investigated the effect of thickness (0.6, 0.8, 1.0 and 1.3 mm) on non-fried potato chips that were treated with a sequential infrared (IR) radiation blanching and drying method. The process characteristics such as the residual polyphenol oxidase (PPO) activity, moisture content reduction and drying rate of IR-treated potato slices were studied. The quality characteristics, including color and texture, were also determined. The residual PPO activity decreased with the increase in sample thickness, in a range of 2.13-8.81% after IR-blanching. The first-order kinetics fitted well for the PPO inactivation curve. The final moisture content (MC) of samples with various thicknesses reached a range of 3.85-4.51% (w.b.) after IR-treatment. The thinner sample had a faster drying rate than the thicker slices. The drying behavior can be described well using the Midilli model. Surface color changes of potato chips with different thickness were expressed by a 0.12-fold decrease in the L* value, and a 4.72-fold and 0.57-fold increase in the a* and b* values, respectively, after IR-treatment. The values of hardness increased by 0.96-fold with the increase in sample thickness from 0.6 to 1.3 mm. In addition, the sensory evaluation revealed that consumers preferred the sample with a thickness of 0.8 mm based on the overall degree of liking.