Instrumental Crispness and Hardness. Banana chips from each
replicate of the drying treatments were packed in individual cheesecloth
bags and then sealed in an airtight bag. The chips were stored at room
temperature for 14 days until the water activity of the samples had
equilibrated to 0.25. Textural attributes of the banana chip samples
were measured using a texture analyzer TA-XT2 (Stable Micro Systems
Ltd., Surrey, England). The test speed was 7.0 mm/s, and the penetration
depth of the probe was 12.0 mm. Each chip was centered over a 1 cm
hole on a 10 cm 9 cm metal base. The sample was fractured using
a No. 5 flat-ended probe. The slope (g/mm) and peak force (g) were
recorded. Fifteen measurements were obtained from each of three
replicates, for a total of 45 measurements for each drying treatment.