FRACTAL ANALYSIS AND CRUST WATER DIFFUSIVITY OF A RESTRUCTURED POTATOPRODUCT DURING DEEP-FAT FRYING

The effect of added fructose (0-10% w/w) on restructured potato produc t surface characteristics, mechanical properties, moisture loss, oil u ptake and color changes during deep-fat frying was investigated. The a pparent fractal dimension derived from the silhouettes of the sample c ontour was related to surface ruggedness, and displayed a marked linea r effect of the added fructose on reducing its value from 1.27 to 1.08 . The apparent fractal dimension correlated linearly with oil uptake a nd U-R, suggesting a practical criterion for predicting oil uptake dur ing deep-fat frying. Added fructose reduced water diffusivity coeffici ents of pre-fried specimens from 2.00 x 10(-9) to 1.26 x 10(-9) m(2)/s . Porosity ranged from 0.79 to 0.82.