3.3. The effect of RF heating on product quality
Color values of the peanut butter and cracker surfaces after RF
treatment are summarized in Tables 3 and 4. L*, a*, and b* values of
RF treated creamy peanut butter were measured at a random
location on the bottom cracker sandwich which had the highest
temperature growth pattern and statistically significant (P > 0.05)
differences were not detected during the entire heating interval
(Table 3). There were also no significant differences of color change
on chunky peanut butter (data not shown). L*, a*, and b* values of
RF treated (90 s) cracker surfaces were not significantly (P > 0.05)
different to those of non-treated samples (Table 4). As shown in
Table 5, there were no significant (P > 0.05) differences among the
six samples scored by the hedonic scale for flavor, texture and
overall acceptability, indicating that RF treatment for 90 s does not
affect the quality of peanut butter cracker sandwiches.