artichokes have unwanted aromatic flavours that discourage daily
consumption, also the development of blackening of the tubers as a
result of oxidation occurs while processing, thus appropriate primary
processing was surmised in this study to solve these problems.
Inactivation of polyphenol oxidase (PPO) has been studied
by Tchoné, Bärwald, and Meier (2005) and acid treatment has been
suggested being effective. However, acid treatment may influence
the taste thus other means such as blanching should be better for
further processing. Previously reported condition to inactivate PPO
by Tchoné et al. (2005) did not completely prevent blackening of
Jerusalem artichoke tubers in our experiments. Therefore in this
study, with the aim of developing a method for primary processing
to promote wide utilisation of Jerusalem artichoke tubers, dry
chips were prepared and examined their properties. The treatment
methods were examined with respect to sensory evaluation,
including the visual acceptability and amounts of functional ingredients.
Methods for the further utilisation of the dried tubers as a
food-modifying material were investigated. In the food industry,
good water-holding capacity is important for the prevention of
syneresis, reducing drip volume, and improving product yields.
Starch from various species is widely used for these purposes when
producing snacks and frozen foods. Thus, it was examined whether
dried Jerusalem artichoke tubers could also be used for those purposes.
In addition, it was also examined whether Jerusalem artichoke
tubers would modify the starch pasting properties.
Starches from different plants have different pasting properties
(Kim & Walker, 1992); the peak viscosity, the pasting temperature,
and the rate of retrogradation are distinctive. Modifying these
properties may improve workability at the factories or elongate
shelf life of the products.