Effect of Sucrose Control on Microstructure and Quality of Explosion-Puffed Yellow Peach Chips

This paper was aimed to investigate the effect of sucrose control on the microstructure and quality of explosionpuffed yellow peach slices. Fresh-cut yellow peach slices were impregnated separately in sucrose solutions at concentrations of 0, 5%, 15%, 25% and 35% before explosion puffing drying. The microporosity, cell wall composition and structure, color, puffing degree, textural characteristics (hardness, brittleness, shearing force, puncturing force, and crushing force), and moisture absorption rate of dried peach slices were analyzed. With the increase in sucrose concentration, the microporosity decreased, and the wall thickness and uniformity of micropores increased. A lower concentration of sucrose could prevent the thermal degradation of pectin, hemicellulose and cellulose in the cell wall of peach slices during explosion puffing drying, thus reinforcing the strength of the cell wall. The contents of pectin and hemicellulose reached their highest values at sucrose concentrations of 15% and 25%. Moreover, results of infrared spectroscopy indicated the characteristic absorption peaks of aromatic ring, α-glycosidic bond and β-glycosidic bond were observed at both sucrose concentrations and the characteristic absorption peaks of O-H bond stretching vibration and C-O stretching vibration were significantly reduced at sucrose concentration of 35%. The color and puffing degree of dried samples were improved at a lower sucrose concentration. With the increase in sucrose concentration, the tissue structure strength was enhanced, the cells were enriched, and the hardness, brittleness, crushing force, shearing force, and puncturing force were increased, all reaching their maximum values at sucrose concentration of 25%. Sucrose impregnation at 5% and 15% had little effect on the hygroscopicity of dried yellow peach slices, but when the concentration was above 25%, it declined. Therefore, sucrose can effectively improve the quality of explosion-puffing-dried yellow peach slices. This study reveals a correlation between the quality of dried peach slices and the microporous structure as well as the cell wall composition, which provides a theoretical basis for improving the quality of dried peach products. © 2020, China Food Publishing Company. All right reserved.