Development of crispy sweet potato chips utilizing vacuum fryer

Abstract

Objectives: The study aimed to (1) develop a shelf-stable and acceptable vacuum fried sweet potato chips, (2) establish process schedule to conduct material balance, (3) evaluate the sensory characteristics of the chips and (4) determine its nutrient composition. Methodology: Sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) was utilized and vacuum fried. The production of the crispy sweet potato chips comprised of selecting quality and newly harvested sweet potato, washing the selected sweet potato with 50ppm chlorinated water peeling and slicing the sweet potato with 2mm thickness cooking the sliced sweet potato for 10minutes, freezing the cooked sweet potato overnight, vacuum frying the frozen sweet psotato, cooling the vacuum fried sweet potato to room temperature and weighing and packing on an 89µm thickness laminated stand – up pouch. Then, material balance was evaluated accounting to wastage and moisture loss. Finally, the quality of the product was tested through sensory evaluation. There were three mass treatments used: Treatment A with 1.0kg; Treatment B with 3.0kg; and, Treatment C with 50kg. Each treatment had three (3) replicates and were fried at 100°C. Findings: Vacuum fried sweet potatoes for The three treatments recorded average bubble end – points of 42.33 (A), 47.67(B), and 52.67 (C) minutes. This shows that the weight to be processed per batch is directly proportional with the bubble end-point as temperature and pressure were held constant. Applications: Sweet Potatoes can be developed as crispy chips utilizing vacuum fryer.