Impact of infrared finishing on the mechanical and sensorial properties of wheat donuts.
Infrared radiation may be used to simulate an immersion frying heat flux and create products with fried-like textures but lower fat contents. The objective of this study was to determine the process parameters needed to produce partially-fried, infrared-finished donuts comparable to fully-fried (control) donuts. A total of 8 different sets of infrared oven parameters (emitter height and belt speed) were tested. Instrumental analysis showed that all infrared-finished donuts had significantly (P ≤ 0.05) lower fat content (25.6% to 30.6%) than the control (33.7%). Setting the infrared emitters in a height gradient from 70 to 50 mm or at a constant height of 60 mm above the belt produced donuts that were most instrumentally similar to the control. Infrared-finished donuts had comparable (P ≤ 0.05) overall acceptance scores to the control, 5.28 to 5.85 versus 5.83, respectively. Infrared radiation may be used to finish-fry partially-fried donuts, yielding a product similar to a fully-fried donut but with significantly lower fat content.


CONCLUSIONS
The partial-frying, infrared-finishing process detailed in this article may be used for other deep-fried foods. It is likely that these foods will also have a lower fat content when prepared with this process than when they are deep-fried. This process provides a method of lowering the fat content of fried foods without changing the food formulation.
Dept of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences, Campus Box 7624 North Carolina State Univ., Raleigh, NC 27695, USA. hsmelito@ncsu.edu
Helen S
HS
Melito
Brian E
BE
Farkas
D003116:Color; D003296:Cooking / Q000379:methods*; D005223:Fats / Q000032:analysis; D005511:Food Handling; D006358:Hot Temperature; D007259:Infrared Rays; D013649:Taste; D014908:Triticum / Q000737:chemistry*
D005223:Fats