Effect of additives on fat uptake and sensory quality of deep fried foods

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of incorporation of selected additives on fat uptake and sensory quality of two traditional deep fried snacks.

Design/methodology/approach

A wheat‐based snack Diamond cuts, and a rice and gram‐based spicy snack Kodbale, were chosen. The products were prepared by incorporating to the dough, 0.2, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 per cent of 11 different additives like gum acacia, gum Tragacanth, Methylcellulose, Gaur Gum, Pectin, Gum Karaya, Gum Carageenan, Xanthan Gum, Gum Gellan, Seafoam and Beligara. Products were evaluated for sensory attributes and fat uptake was estimated by soxhlet extraction.

Findings

Results indicated that average fat uptake in Diamond cuts and Kodbale was 28.00 and 30 per cent, respectively. In Diamond cuts, while addition of additives did not alter fat uptake remarkably, a slight decrease in the case of gum Tragacanth (0.2 per cent) and Gaur Gum and Gum Carageenan (0.75 per cent) was observed. Statistical analysis of sensory attributes revealed only a marginal difference in textural quality of Diamond cuts incorporated with Gaur Gum, Pectin and Beligara. In Kodbale, fat uptake was marginally lowered by the addition of Gaur Gum, gum Tragacanth, Xanthan Gum and Gum Carageenan at 0.75 per cent. No significant differences were observed among the sensory qualities except for marginal differences in textural quality of Kodbale incorporated with Gaur Gum, Gum Carageenan and Beligara. It can be concluded that addition of additives did not influence the fat uptake or sensory quality of fried products studied to a significant extent.

Originality/value

Since some of the additives improved textural quality of products and fried products are usually stored and consumed, these additives can probably help in improving the texture of stored products. Further studies in this area would help in confirming this.

Citation

Gowri, B.S., Begum, K., Saraswathi, G. and Prakash, J. (2008), "Effect of additives on fat uptake and sensory quality of deep fried foods", Nutrition & Food Science, Vol. 38 No. 3, pp. 222-228. https://doi.org/10.1108/00346650810871902