Cell wall CSF/WSF ratio value discriminates the cooked texture of lotus rhizome

Abstract

In order to find out the key factors to affect the texture variation and the formation mechanism of different cultivars lotus rhizomes after thermal processing, representative lotus rhizomes harvested in year round with 2 months interval, including Lulinhu, Miancheng, and Elian 5, were chosen to calculate the cause of thermal process texture. The texture (hardness), content of different fractions of alcohol insoluble residue (AIR), and microstructure of the cell wall components of the lotus rhizomes exhibited changes during processing. The changes of three pectin fractions in the three lotus rhizomes cultivars were compared by combining the effect of thermal treatment on the lotus rhizome AIR pectin content degree of esterification (DE) and analysing the texture and microstructure, the cell wall materials were found to be the crucial factor in this process. Another six cultivars lotus rhizomes have been employed to replicate the above mentioned results, the total data were used to calculate the chelator soluble fraction (CSF) to water soluble fraction (WSF) ratio value (0.25), which determines the texture of the lotus rhizomes after thermal-processing. The CSF/WSF ratio values (0.25) will give an index for the lotus rhizome processing food industry.