Color kinetics and acrylamide formation in NaCl soaked potato chips Original Research Article

The objective of this work was to study the kinetics of color development in blanched and blanched-NaCl impregnated potato slices during frying by using the dynamic method and also to evaluate the effect of NaCl in reducing acrylamide formation in potato chips. The measurement of color was done by using an inexpensive computer vision technique which allowed quantifying in a more precise and representative way the color in L∗a∗b∗ units of complex surfaces such as those of potato slices during frying. The effect of potato slice soaking in NaCl was evaluated not only for color change but also for acrylamide formation. Prior to frying, potato slices (Desiree variety, diameter: 37 mm, width: 2.2 mm) were blanched in hot water at 85 °C for 3.5 min; these slices were considered as the control. Slices of the same dimensions were blanched as in the previous step, and soaked at 25 °C in a NaCl solution of 0.02 g/l 5 min at 200 rpm of agitation. These samples were considered as NaCl soaked potato chips.