T. Beveridge et Se. Weintraub, EFFECT OF BLANCHING PRETREATMENT ON COLOR AND TEXTURE OF APPLE SLICESAT VARIOUS WATER ACTIVITIES, Food research international, 28(1), 1995, pp. 83-86
Equilibration of Bed Delicious apple slices to water activities below
about 0.6 resulted in increased hardness in blanched, sulfited and unt
reated control slices as measured by the force required to shear the s
lices. As their water activity was lowered toward 0.29, blanched slice
s became about 2.5 times harder than the sulfite or untreated samples.
Brown color development in the slices as measured by the C.I.E. value
L was maximal at a(w) near 0.7 and less on either side of this water
activity. Brown color development over 8 week storage at ERH 53, 65 an
d 75% was accompanied by rapid loss of polyphenol oxidase activity and
progressive loss of total phenol. Packaging and storage of fruit leat
hers and apple slices are discussed in the light of these results.