EFFECTS OF FRYING OIL COMPOSITION ON POTATO-CHIP STABILITY

Potato chips were fried in six canola (low-erucic acid rapeseed) oils under pilot-plant process settings that represented commercial conditi ons. Oil samples included an unmodified canola oil and oils with fatty acid compositions modified by mutation breeding or hydrogenation. Chi ps were fried for a 2-d, 18-h cycle for each oil. Chips and oil were s ampled periodically for sensory, gas-chromatographic volatiles and che mical analyses. Unmodified canola oil produced chips with lower flavor stability and oxidative stability than the other oils. The hydrogenat ed oil imparted a typical hydrogenation flavor to the chips that sligh tly affected overall quality. The modified canola oil (IMC 129) with t he highest oleic acid level (78%) had the lowest content of total pola r compounds and the lowest total volatile compounds at most of the sto rage times; however, the sensory quality of the potato chip was only f air. The potato chip with the best flavor stability was fried in a mod ified/blended oil (IMC 01-4.5/129) with 68% oleic acid, 20% linoleic a cid and 3% linolenic acid.