Effects of process parameters on puffed bananasnack quality

Abstract

The healthy snacks become increasingly popular. The low-fat crispy snack, puffed banana slices, is one of alternative products for health conscious consumer. The crisp texture of snacks is important to consumer‘s acceptability. Crispness is associated with porous structure of foods. To obtain porous structure of banana, puffing technique is an alternative method to produce this snack. In this study, the effects of blanching, thickness, ripe stage and puffing temperatures on qualities of puffed banana slices, i.e. color, degree of shrinkage and textural properties were investigated. The experimental results showed that the blanching, ripe stage, puffing temperature and thickness affected the shrinkage. All process parameters, except the puffing temperature, also influenced textural property as characterized by hardness and crispiness. The blanching can improve the appearance and color but it caused the harder texture since the cellular structure was collapsed during blanching step. To prevent the brown color development or scorching, it recommended puffing banana at temperature below 180 degree Celsius.