The Effect of Chitosan and Okra Mucilage Edible Coatings on the Physico-chemical Properties of Fried Potato Strips

 Potato strips are one of the most widely consumed products, and due to their high oil content, they have caused public health concerns. Therefore, efforts to reduce oil absorption can alleviate these concerns to some extent. Edible coating is an effective way to reduce oil uptake, because the oil absorption is a surface phenomenon. Edible coatings should adhere well to the surface of the product and provide a uniform and complete coverage for the product. Preventing the migration of oxygen, carbon dioxide, aromas, oils, moisture, improving the appearance of food and mechanical properties. In this study, the possibility of reducing oil absorption in French fries was investigated using okra mucilage and chitosan as edible coatings.

 The okra was washed and then cut into about 1 cm pieces and poured into containers with lids. Then water in a ratio of 2:1 weight of okra was added to the container and completely covered its surface. The okra were refrigerated for 72 hours until the mucilage was completely extracted. Then the mucilage was smoothed. This solution was considered as 100% mucilage solution. To prepare a 50% solution of okra mucilage, 100% solution was mixed with an equal amount of distilled water and filtered. To produce a solution of 0.75 and 1.5% of chitosan, 7.5 and 15 g of chitosan powder was dissolved in 1000 ml of 1% acetic acid and then adjusted to pH 5. Then 5 g of glycerol was added as a plasticizer. The potato slices were first blanched in 0.5% calcium chloride solution at 90°C for 5 minutes. Then, they were immersed in coating solutions at 60°C for 5 minutes. After coating, the potato strips were fried at 180°C using a fryer and then various characteristics including coating percentage, oil absorption, and moisture content, texture firmness, peroxide value, acid number, color indices and sensory properties were examined. Design Expert 8.0.7.1 software was used to analyze the results and to draw the curves.

Results and Discission:

 The results showed that the increasing the amount of chitosan led to better coating formation in comparison with okra. The highest coverage was observed in the concentration of 1.2% chitosan and 0% okra mucilage (2.38%) and the lowest was observed in the control sample (0.11%). It was also observed that with increasing the concentration of chitosan and okra mucilage, the amount of oil absorption decreases. However, the amount of oil absorption in high concentrations of okra mucilage increased slightly. The highest oil uptake in the control sample was 20% and the lowest was observed in the sample of fried strips covered with 41% okra mucilage and 1.5% chitosan at 15.44%. The obtained model of oxidation index was not significant. The effect of okra mucilage and chitosan concentration on the texture of the samples (p <0.05) and the color indices of a* (p<0.01) and L* (p <0.05) were significant. For sensory attributes, the highest and the lowest taste score was observed for samples coated with 100% okra mucilage and 0.75% chitosan and samples coated with 18% okra mucilage and 0% chitosan respectively.

 The aim of this project was to reduce the oil absorption of fried potato strips by coating them with chitosan and okra mucilage. Optimization to minimize the consumption of okra and chitosan mucilage showed that coating with 74% okra and 0.89% chitosan is suitable for coating potato slices. The desirability of this optimization was 71%, which is a reasonable percentage.