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MICROSTRUCTURAL FAILURE MECHANISMS IN COOKED AND AGED CARROTS
Author(s) -
THIEL B. L.,
DONALD A. M.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
journal of texture studies
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.593
H-Index - 54
eISSN - 1745-4603
pISSN - 0022-4901
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-4603.2000.tb00301.x
Subject(s) - turgor pressure , daucus carota , softening , materials science , microstructure , boiling , brittleness , drop (telecommunication) , biophysics , chemistry , composite material , botany , biology , telecommunications , organic chemistry , computer science
In situ mechanical testing of hydrated carrot (Daucus carota) parenchymal tissue was performed in an Environmental Scanning Electron Microscope. Carrots were either aged or cooked for varying amounts of time in order to ascertain how these processes affect the mechanical response of the cellular microstructure to being sliced by a scalpel blade. In fresh tissues when the turgor pressure is high, the cells burst in the expected manner. Boiling the tissue reduced the ability of the cells to retain liquid, effecting a transition from closed‐cell to open‐cell behaviour and the cell walls were torn in tension, behind the blade. Ageing resulted in a drop in the turgor pressure and these materials failed in a manner similar to the fresh, raw tissue except they exhibited a transition in elastic modulus from a pliant to a brittle state when the cells were deformed sufficiently to increase the turgor pressure to the ‘fresh’ value.