Ohmic treatment of fresh foods: Effect on textural properties

The aim of this work was to verify the effects of ohmic heating (OH) treatment on texture of fresh solid food (without pre-treatment in brine solutions), subjected to constant electrical field gradient (1100 V/m; 2200 V/m; 3300 V/m). Samples of fresh potatoes, carrots and apples cut into cylinders (d = 30 mm, h = 9.0 mm) underwent OH for 60, 120, 180 and 240 seconds. Texture measurements were performed in a universal testing machine Instron 4301, with a 100 N load cell, using a single-cycle compression test. The raw untreated sample was used as control. Stress–deformation behavior of food samples processed by OH differs appreciably from raw untreated samples for all cooking times. Firmness …