Fried and Dehydrated Potato Products

Potato processing is highly industrialized, technologically advanced, and very market-driven. However, the quality of its products and the economic success of this industry highly depend on available raw materials: namely, the potatoes. Deep fat frying is a complex unit operation that induces significant microstructural changes in potato tissue; in fact, most desirable characteristics of fried foods are derived from the formation of a composite structure: (1) a dry, porous, crispy, and oily outer layer or crust; and (2) a moist cooked interior or core whose microstructures have formed during the process. On the other hand, when potatoes are cooked immersed in hot water (temperature ≤ 100 °C), no crust is formed and principally microstructural changes in potato tissue such as starch gelatinization and lamella media solubilization occur and end with a final microstructure similar to that present in the core of a french fry (moist cooked interior).