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Impregnation and Infiltration Kinetics of Isotonic Solution in Whole Jalapeño Pepper Using a Vacuum Pulse
Author(s) -
MartínezMonteagudo Sergio I.,
SalaisFierro Fabiola,
PerezCarrillo J.R.,
ValdezFragoso Aurora,
WeltiChanes Jorge,
MüjicaPaz Hugo
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
journal of food science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 150
eISSN - 1750-3841
pISSN - 0022-1147
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2621.2006.tb15625.x
Subject(s) - pepper , pickling , kinetics , chemistry , infiltration (hvac) , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , food science , composite material , chromatography , metallurgy , physics , quantum mechanics
The kinetics incorporation of an isotonic solution (IS) into the whole jalapeño pepper, as a function of the vacuum pressure (p 1 , vacuum application time (t 1 ), and relaxation time (t 2 ), is necessary to determining the conditions leading to the highest incorporation of IS. This study was aimed at determining the operation conditions to achieve maximum impregnation (M in ) of whole jalapeño pepper tissue, and a complete infiltration (M in ) of its inner void with an IS, using a vacuum pulse. Impregnation of whole jalapeño peppers was conducted using an IS (a w = 0.993 ± 0.001), a vacuum pulse, and 5 levels for each process variable (t 1 , t 2 , p 1 ), according to a central composite design. The amounts of impregnated and infiltrated IS were measured by following changes in pepper weight. The p 1 , t 2 had a significant effect ( P < 0.01) on the rate of M im and M in (g IS/g pepper). It was found that the structure of whole jalapeño plays an important role in the deformation‐relaxation process, which also affects the impregnation and infiltration kinetics. A high level of p 1 (666 mbar) and t 2 (840 min) allowed to achieve the maximum values of M im and M in (0.07 and 0.29 g IS/g pepper, respectively). These results suggest that different driving force acts in promoting the M im and M in , during the t 1 and t 2 . This information will be of great value in the analysis of the pickling process of whole jalapeño pepper with a hypertonic solution and a vacuum pulse.