Author : Techmeng Hort

Summary : The effects of pre-treatment (immersion in plain water, blanching in boiling water, immersion in sugar solution, and combination of blanching and immersion in sugar solution) and degrees of ripeness (green mature, rare-ripe and ripe) on the sensory characteristics such as colour, colour brightness, colour acceptability, banana flavour, burnt flavour, flavour acceptability, hardness, crispness, texture acceptability and overall accepatability were studied. Using the most acceptable pre-treatment conditions determined for each degree of ripeness, the effects of frying temperature (100,110 and 120 deg C) and degree of ripeness on the sensory characteristics and physicochemical characteristics such as colour, moisture and fat contents were also studied. On green mature bananas: the pre-treatment had no significant effects on the colour, colour brightness and burnt flavour of the chips. But, banana flavour, hardness and crispness were significantly increased by blanching, immersion in sugar solution or their combination. The chips treated by both blanching and immersion in sugar solution had the highest scores in overall acceptability and other attributes. The frying temperature did not significantly affect the colour, flavour, texture of the chips. However, the chips fried at 120 deg C had the lowest fat content and highest scores in overall acceptability and other attributes. On rare-ripe bananas: The colour and colour brightness of the chips were significantly increased by immersion in sugar solution and blanching, respectively. Banana flavour of the chips was notably enhanced by immersion in sugar solution or either blanched or unblanched banana slices. All the pre-treatments significantly increased the hardness and crispness. The highest scores in overall acceptability and other attributes were obtained from chips treated by blanching. The frying temperature did not significantly affect the colour brightness, banana flavour and texture of the chips.