BLANCHING EFFECT ON CARROTS - STUDY ON TH E LIPIDS STABILITY DURING THE FROZEN CONSERVATION

The oxidative phenomena of the frozen carrot lipids were studied refer ring to the degree of the heat treatment of the enzymatic inactivation (blanching). The sliced carrots were blanched at 100 degrees C for va rious times (10 s, 30 s, 60 s, 90 s), quick frozen and stored at -20 d egrees C up to 9 months. Chemical analyses (acidic composition of the total lipids, UV absorbance spectrophotometric analysis, HPLC analysis of the total lipids, TBA value, enzymatic activities) as well as sens ory analysis were performed on the carrot samples. The results show th at it is possible to reduce the heating treatment of enzymatic inactiv ation without decreasing the quality of the sliced frozen carrots. The best results were given by the blanching treatments of 30 s and 60 s.