Snack moisture

Starches are added to processed meats—lunch meats, hot dogs, sausages, etc.—as fillers, binders, moisture retainers, and fat substitutes. They are added to soups, sauces, and gravies as thickeners. They are used in extruded cereals and snacks to hold the shape of the material. 

More impi manl than moisture content, per se. is the objective of creating a preserved food substance lhai is stable and can he eaten directly. An idealized IMF system will have ilia microbial stability at reduced water activity. 17) storage siabiliiy without special conditions. l3i reduction of weight and more compactness of product, and (41 can be consumed from the package without rehvtlrulion Some authorities believe that IMF systems represent excellent potential in the development of the snack market... 

Starch modifications can be classified as physical modifications, chemical modifications and genetic modifications.45 Physical modification of cassava starch involves application of shear force, blending and thermal treatment. A combination of thermal treatment and shear force has been widely used to produce many extruded products and snacks. Well-known physically modified cassava starch products are alpha starch or pregelatinized starch and heat-moisture treated starch. 

Figure 10.19. The effect of moisture on the force-displacement curves of two puffed snacks. Notice the jaggedness loss in the wet particles force-displacement curves and that they can be higher than those of the dry ones.

Figure 10.20. The effect of moisture on the brittleness of three snacks. Notice the fit of the Fermi model and that the drop had a considerable span.

Figure 10.22. The effect of moisture on the stiffness of three snacks. From Suwonsichon and Peleg (1998) and Gonzalez-Martinez et al. (2003).

Figure 10.23. The effect of moisture on the perceived crunchiness and hardness rating of a puffed snack. Notice that the loss of brittleness and moisture toughening can be sensed simultaneously not only by machines (Figures 10.19-10.22) but also by humans.

Wollny M., and Peleg M. (1994). A model of moisture-induced plasticization of crunchy snacks based on Fermi s distribution function. J. Sci. FoodAgri., 64,467-473. 

Crispness is a desirable sensory property in many cereal foods such as toast, the crust of bread, crispbreads, crisps, biscuits, extruded snacks and breakfast cereals. Since it is a subjective sensory assessment crispness is difficult to define unambiguously and its perception varies greatly between individuals and also between countries (Bourne 2002). In general it is known that crisp foods are at low moisture, in the brittle or glassy state well above Tg and fracture rapidly (see also Chapters 5 and 7). We can... 

Fully fried products, such as salty snacks lose practically of the moisture because the final product contains less than 1.5% moisture. 

The dehydration technique, which slowly dries fruit by extracting all the moisture, enables fruits to be stored without deteriorating, and is one of the healthiest forms of fruit preservation. If you grow your own fruit, you may prefer to buy a dehydrator. Whether rehydrated or used as they are, dried fruits make an excellent snack food. 

As a packaging gas for potato chips and other snack foods, preventing moisture from making the product become stale ... 

Carrots are even a good source of calcium, so snack away And don t worry about the white deposit that sometimes appears on the surface of the little bagged carrots. It s just naturally occurring sugar that crystallizes out as moisture evaporates. 

With today s busy lifestyles, tree nuts are convenient, tasty, nutritious, and easy snack that contribute to a healthy lifestyle. They are typically consumed as whole nuts (either raw or roasted or salted) or used as ingredients in a variety of processed foods, especially in spreads, bakery, and confectionary products, among others. Tree nnt oils, in particular hazelnut oil, are also used for several purposes such as cooking, salad dressings, and flavoring ingredients, among others [3-6]. In addition, tree nut oils (particularly hazelnut oil) are also components of some skin moisturizers and cosmetic products [7]. 

In the food industry NIR spectroscopy is the most common in-line method to monitor moisture, oil, fat and protein to analyze grains, feeds, meat, dairy and other products. Metabolites in leaves of spice plants can be determined by using NIR reflection measurements [21]. Accuracy and precision achieved are better than 0.2 % [22]. On-line measurements are also made for diverse snack food products. 

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