The vitamin C status of freeze-chilled mashed potato Original Research Article

Both freeze-chilling and chilling reduce the vitamin C content of mashed potato in comparison with freezing. The current trial investigated the potential of encapsulated vitamin C (EVC) for boosting the vitamin C content of mashed potato. Preliminary trials with EVC in aqueous solution indicated that the vitamin C was not released from the capsules until the temperature reached ≈67 °C, i.e. the melting point of the encapsulating fat. Samples of cooled mashed potato (cultivar Rooster) were supplemented with EVC and were subjected to four process treatments, i.e. fresh, chilling, freeze-chilling and freezing. Parallel tests were conducted with ordinary vitamin C (OVC) and with no vitamin C (NVC) (i.e. control samples). The vitamin C content of the reheated samples with added EVC from the four process treatments was 24.4 mg/100 g (fresh), 16.4 (chill), 14.3 (freeze-chill), 22.4 (freeze). Corresponding contents using OVC were 25.3, 2.4, 2.8, and 19.1 mg/100 g and NVC were 2.0, 1.5, 0.5 and 0.8 mg/100 g respectively. These data show that EVC has potential for boosting the vitamin C content of both freeze-chilled and chilled mashed potato.