Vacuum fried gold kiwifruit: Effects of frying process and pretreatment on the physico-chemical and nutritional qualities

A study was conducted to determine the effects of frying process and pre-treatment on the physico-chemical and nutritional qualities of vacuum fried gold kiwifruit. The kiwifruit samples were peeled and cut into slices 5 mm thick. Half of the kiwifruit samples were soaked for one hour in a33% maltodextrin solution, then placed into plastic bags and frozen and the other half (unsoaked)were simply frozen. The two set of samples were subjected to three frying processes and all at 2.3kPa vacuum, after which the kiwifruit was removed from the fryer and centrifuged in cheese cloth for four minutes to remove excess surface oil. Generally, the vacuum fried gold kiwifruit samples from the 80°C for 50 minutes process gave higher moisture content and lower oil content followed by the samples from the 90°C for 35 minutes process and then the 100°C for 25 minutes process. The vacuum fried samples from the 100°C for 25 minutes process gave consistently higher total colour change and browning index, followed by the 90°C for 35 minutes process and then the 80°C for 50 minutes process. The unsoaked sample from the 80°C for 50 minutes process gave significantly lower breaking force than the sample from the 100°C for 25 minutes process. There was no significant difference in the breaking force of all vacuum fried soaked samples. Generally the samples from the 80°C for 50 minutes process gave higher ascorbic acid contents followed by the samples from the 90°C for 35 minutes process and then the 100°C for 25 minutes process.