i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 5 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 5 9 e6 5

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect
w w w . i i fi i r . o r g

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijrefrig

Effects of different freezing methods on the quality

and microstructure of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera) root
Jing Tu a, Min Zhang a,*, Baoguo Xu a, Huihua Liu b
a
b

State Key Laboratory of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 214122 Wuxi, Jiangsu, China
School of Health Sciences, Federation University Australia, VIC 3353, Australia

article info

abstract

Article history:

The effects of three freezing methods, air blast freezing (ABF), immersion freezing (IF) and

Received 18 October 2014

ultrasound-assisted immersion freezing (UIF), on quality and microstructure of lotus roots

Received in revised form

were investigated. The parameters used to evaluate the freezing methods effect were the

16 December 2014

freezing time, color, firmness, drip loss, vitamin C and microstructure of the final frozen

Accepted 22 December 2014

products. The results showed that the UIF products had several advantages in terms of the

Available online 30 December 2014

freezing time, color, firmness and drip loss over ABF and IF. No significant difference

Keywords:

nificant difference (p < 0.05) of vitamin C was observed between UIF and ABF/IF products.

Lotus root

ABF caused the largest destruction to the tissue, while the microstructure of the UIF

Air blast freezing

products was the best preserved. It is concluded that UIF processing was a better freezing

Immersion freezing

method for lotus root with improved quality and less damaged microstructure than the

Ultrasound-assisted immersion

two other methods.

(p > 0.05) of vitamin C content was observed between the ABF and IF products, while sig-

2014 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

freezing
Quality
Microstructure

 thodes de conge
 lation sur la qualite
 et la
Effets de diverses me
microstructure de racine de lotus (Nelumbo nucifera)
 ; Congelation par immersion ; Conge
lation par immersion assiste
 par ultrasons ;
Mots cles : Racine de lotus ; Congelation par air force
 ; Microstructure
Qualite

1.

Introduction

Lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn), an aquatic perennial from

Nelumbonaceae family, is an important economic plant
widely cultivated in the Orient. The lotus root is used as a

popular vegetable because of its crispness, attractive white

color and abundant nutrients. The lotus root is considered to
be rich in dietary fiber, vitamins, phenolic compounds, and
antioxidants (Man et al., 2012; Xing et al., 2010). In such
context, lotus root is used as food as well as traditional

* Corresponding author. School of Food Science and Technology, Jiangnan University, 214122 Wuxi, Jiangsu Province, China. Tel.: 86 (0)
510 85917089; fax: 86 (0)510 5807976.
E-mail address: min@jiangnan.edu.cn (M. Zhang).
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijrefrig.2014.12.015
0140-7007/ 2014 Elsevier Ltd and IIR. All rights reserved.

60

i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 5 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 5 9 e6 5

medicine. However, the shelf-life of fresh lotus root is very

short since it easily browns and deteriorates during storage
when the peel is damaged.
With the aim to prolong the shelf-life of lotus root, several
preservation processes have been assayed including bloated
by salt, some vacuum package by plastic film and frozen lotus
root (Guo, 2008). Among them, freezing is one of the most
important approaches since it not only significantly extends
vegetable shelf-life but also diversifies the offer of foods for
consumers (Sahari et al., 2004). However, previous studies had
shown that freezing usually resulted in undesirable physical,
chemical, and structural changes leading to quality losses in

color, texture, and nutrition (Alvarez
et al., 2005; Koushki
et al., 2013). During the deep freezing process, one of the
most important parameters affecting the microstructure of
the frozen product is the ice crystal size which is directly
related to the freezing rate. A slow freezing gives rise to the
formation of large ice crystals that irreversibly damages the
tissues. On the other hand, a high freezing rate leads to small
ice crystals that contribute to a much preserved structural
quality of the food (Sanz et al., 1999).
At industrial-scale production, the most common used
freezing methods are air blast, plate contact, fluidised-bed
and cryogenic freezing (Lakshmisha et al., 2008; Norton
et al., 2009). Freezing rate achievable by these methods is
limited by the thermal conductivity of foods, which has a low
value (approximately 0.5e1.5 W m1 K1) (Singh and
Heldman, 2009; Sun and Li, 2003). By directly contacting of
food products with refrigerating medium or refrigerant, The
immersion freezing method offers significant advantages
including high-heat transfer coefficients, good product
quality and energy savings (Delgado et al., 2009). However,
the main disadvantage of immersion freezing method is the
uncontrollable solute uptake from the refrigerated solution
into the product. Fortunately, some approaches are developed to solve this problem, such as improving the freezing
rate, choosing the suitable solution solute for a particular
product, conducting pre-freezing treatments and so on
(Zorrilla and Rubiolo, 2005; Chourot et al., 2001). In recent
years, the growth of the frozen food industry has become the
major driven force for the research activities on optimization/improvement studies of the existing methods.
Ultrasound-assisted immersion freezing technologies as a
new method is being developed attributed to its promising
positive effects in food processing and preservation (Zheng
and Sun, 2005). Results from a previous research work suggested that a shorter freezing time is required for sample
(apple and potato) subjected to power ultrasound-assisted
immersion freezing compared to immersion freezing
(Delgado et al., 2009; Comandini et al., 2013).
The objective of this study is to investigate the influence of
different freezing methods on the product quality and
microstructure. Samples are subjected to three different
freezing methods including immersion freezing, ultrasoundassisted immersion freezing and air blast freezing. The quality of the froze product are compared from different aspects
such as the freezing time, color, firmness, drip loss, vitamin C
amount and finally the microstructure of the final samples is
also assessed by SEM images.

2.

Materials and methods

2.1.

Materials

Lotus roots (Nelumbo nucifern) were purchased on a commercial farm in Wuxi, Jiangsu, China. Fresh lotus roots were
cut into 2 cm thick slices and immediately kept in pre-made
solution (citric acid~1%, sodium chloride~0.5%, liquid calcium chloride~0.5%) for 20 min (The experimental factors
were the appropriate parameters of preprocessing experiment
which was proved in our previous studies). Then lotus root
slices were blanched with boiling water for 60 s and followed
by immediate cooling in ice bath. The pretreated samples
were refrigerated at 4  C until frozen by the three freezing
processes: conventional air blast freezing, immersion freezing
and ultrasound-assisted immersion freezing.

2.2.

Freezing process

An air blast freezer (Qi Hong refrigeration company, Jiangsu,

China) was used in the ABF experiments. The ABF process was
carried out at 35  C using an air speed of 3.8 m s1. The immersion freezing (IF) and ultrasound-assisted immersion
freezing (UIF) processes were carried out in an ultrasoundassisted immersion freezer (Zhejiang Scientific Research Instrument, Jiangsu, China). The output power of the generator
can be adjusted within the range of 0e300 W. Unidirectional
ultrasound waves were delivered to a freezing medium in the
tank at the frequency of 30 kHz. A solution of calcium chloride
and water (29/71, w/w) was used as the freezing medium
operating at 25  C. Each sample was positioned in the center
of the vessel at a 2.5 cm depth below the freezing solution, in
which power ultrasound was applied intermittently in phase
transition stage for 6 min. The ultrasound power and ultrasound duty cycle per minutes can be adjusted during the UIF
process. Thus, five UIF processing conditions (named as UIF-1
to UIF-5) at various ultrasound power and ultrasound duty
cycle per minutes are studied. Detailed UIF processing condition is shown below: UIF-1 (90 W, 30 s on/30 s off), UIF-2
(150 W, 30 s on/30 s off), UIF-3 (210 W, 30 s on/30 s off), UIF-4
(150 W, 15 s on/45 s off) and UIF-5 (150 W, 45 s on/15 s off).
The freezing process was considered as finished when the
temperature at the centre of the sample reached 18  C.
Temperature of the centre of samples was monitored using Ktype thermocouples which were connected to a digital thermometer (UT325 thermometer, Uni-Trend Technology
Limited, Dongguan, China). At least four replications were
carried out for each treatment.

2.3.

Color measurement

Surface color of lotus roots was measured with a Minolta

spectrophotometer (CR-400, Konica Minolta Sensing, Tokyo,
Japan) using CIE color parameters L* (light/dark), a* (red/green)
and b* (yellow/blue) values. The whiteness index (WI) was
calculated using the above three values as described by
Rupasinghe et al. (2006), which was calculated using the
following equation:

61

i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 5 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 5 9 e6 5

q
*2
WI 100  100  L* 2 a* 2 b

2.4.

(1)

2.7.

Texture analysis

The firmness of lotus root samples was determined by a

compression test using a texture analyzer (TA-XT plus, Stable
Micro Systems, Ltd., Surrey, United Kingdom) fitted with a
cylindrical probe (P/2). The pre-speed, test-speed, and postspeed were set to be 1.5 mm s1, 1.5 mm s1, and 5 mm s1,
respectively, and the deformation ratio was 60%. The trigger
force was 5 g. The forceetime curve was recorded and
analyzed using the software Texture Exponent 32 (StableMicro
Systems, Ltd.). The firmness was the maximum peak value in
the first compressed force.

2.5.

Drip loss measurement

Drip loss for different sample during thawing was tested.

Thawing was conducted at 4  C in a thermostatically
controlled refrigerator. Drip loss was measured by weighing
the lotus root sample during thawing (Kidmose and Martens,
1999). The drip loss was calculated as follows:
Drip loss%

standard ascorbic acid solution consumed in calibration

(mg mL1), m is the sample weight (g).

w0  wt
 100%
w0

(2)

Microscopic analysis

Structural observation was carried out using a SEM (SU1510;

Hitachi, Japan) at 10.0 kV. Samples were prepared according to
the method of Delgado et al. (Delgado and Rubiolo, 2005).
Freeze-drying was the method used for the fresh control and
the frozen samples for removing the water prior to the SEM
observation. Slices of frozen samples were mounted on the
metal stubs with silver conducting paint, and were gold
coated in the same evaporator.

2.8.

Statistical analysis

Data were subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) and

Duncan's Multiple Range Test (P  0.05) using the SPSS 16
statistical software (SPSS, Chicago, Illinois, USA). The data
obtained in this study were reported as mean value standard
deviation (SD) and significant differences between mean
values were determined by Tukey's test.

3.

Results and discussion

where: w0 and wt are the weights of the lotus root at time

0 and time t during thawing.

3.1.
Effect of different freezing methods on freezing
process

2.6.

The whole freezing process can be divided into three stages:

precooling, phase transition and subcooling stage (Hu et al.,
2013). The times for each stage of freezing process and total
freezing time are summarized in Table 1. It revealed that the
distribution of freezing time for each stage was affected by the
freezing methods and/or parameters.
As can be seen from Table 1, IF showed a shorter freezing
time (95 s) for precooling stage than that of ABF (170 s).
Regarding the time spent in the phase transition stage, it's
generally accepted that minimizing the phase transition stage
could contribute to better the product quality. Compared to IF
and UIF, the phase transition time of ABF (847 s) turned out to
be the longest. This finding was in agreement with previous
studies from Chourot et al. (2003). The UIF-2 and UIF-3 samples with the phase transition time of 362 s and 387 s, which

Determination of vitamin C content

The vitamin C content was measured using the oven method

(2,6-dichloroindophenol titration method, GB/T 6195-1986,
National Standard of China). Samples were washed by the
same content of 2% (m/v) oxalic acid. The mashed tissue was
accurately weighed and diluted to 100 mL by 1% oxalic acid.
After filtration, samples were titrated to pink color using
standard 2,6-dichloroindophenol solution. The vitamin C
content of samples is determined by the following equation:
X

VT
 100
m

(3)

where: X is the vitamin C content of sample (mg/100g), V is the

amount of 2,6-dichloroindophenol consumed (mL), T is the

Table 1 e The time spent on each freezing stage of lotus root as affected by different freezing methods (ABF: air blast
freezing, IF: immersion freezing, UIF: ultrasound-assisted immersion freezing).
Treatments
ABF
IF
UIF-1
UIF-2
UIF-3
UIF-4
UIF-5

Precooling stage (s)

170
95
87
87
92
95
92

28b
7a
4a
4a
4a
7a
4a

Phase transition stage (s)

847
460
415
362
387
420
412

75c
22b
15ab
16a
11a
29ab
14ab

Subcooling stage (s)

679
387
405
340
370
365
385

37c
17ab
24ab
10a
32ab
21ab
31b

Total freezing time (s)

1641
939
908
785
849
850
891

69c
45b
35b
48a
70ab
41ab
88b

UIF-1(90 W, 30 s on/30 s off), UIF-2(150 W, 30 s on/30 s off), UIF-3(210 W, 30 s on/30 s off), UIF-4(150 W, 15 s on/45 s off) and UIF-5(150 W, 45 s on/
15 s off).
The results are mean standard deviation (n 3).
Values with different online letters (a,b,c) in a column are significantly different (P  0.05).

62

i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 5 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 5 9 e6 5

showed a significant improvement of the freezing efficiency

(p < 0.05) for IF samples (460 s). This confirmed that ultrasound
irradiation significantly improved the freezing rate. Similar
finding was reported in the work of Delgado et al. (2009).
However, UIF-1, UIF-4 and UIF-5 samples showed a lower increase in the freezing efficiency (10%) than that of UIF-2
(21.3%). This phenomenon can be explained as the ultrasound irradiation showed promising effect for the enhancement of convective heat transfer rate between samples and
cooling medium (Kiani et al., 2013, 2012).
From the Table 1, the required time for the subcooling
stage of IF samples was 387 s, which was shorter than 679 s of
ABF sample. It reconfirmed that the air blast freezing method
was the most time consuming technique. The total freezing
time for UIF process (especially 785 s for UIF-2 sample) is
shorter than that of IF and ABF (939 s and 1641 s for IF and ABF
samples respectively). This finding clearly showed that lotus
root freezing improved about 16.4% and 52.2% by ultrasound
irradiation compared to IF and UIF method, respectively.

3.2.
Effect of different freezing methods on the color of
lotus root
Color is the primary quality parameter when consumers are
assessing the natural and processed foods. Vegetables are
easy to change color during the preprocessing, freezing,

thawing and frozen storage (Alvarez
et al., 2005; Koushki et al.,
2013). Table 2 shows the effects of different freezing methods
on the color variations of frozen and thawed lotus root. During
freezing process, the value of L* and WI ranged from 71.43 to
69.17 in control sample to 65.99 and 64.44 in ABF samples,
which indicated that ABF showed adverse effects on the color
of frozen samples. Conversely, IF resulted in an increase from
71.43 to 69.17 to 73.63 and 71.87 in L* and WI values, which
confirmed that the IF frozen products become brighter and
whiter when compared with the control samples. No statistically significant differences in the value of L* and WI were
found for IF and UIF products (p < 0.05), which indicated that

2400

25

2200
20

2000
1800

15

1600
10

1400
1200

5
1000
800

600

Control

ABF

IF

UIF-1

UIF-2

UIF-3

UIF-4

UIF-5

Fig. 1 e The firmness and drip loss of lotus root under

different freezing methods (Control: Fresh, ABF: air blast
freezing, IF: immersion freezing, UIF: ultrasound-assisted
immersion freezing; UIF-1(90 W, 30 s on/30 s off), UIF2(150 W, 30 s on/30 s off), UIF-3(210 W, 30 s on/30 s off),
UIF-4(150 W, 15 s on/45 s off) and UIF-5(150 W, 45 s on/15 s
off)). The results are mean standard deviation (n 3).
Values with different superscript letters in a column are
significantly different (P 0.05).
ultrasound irradiation had little impact on color of lotus root
samples. After thawing, except for the ABF products, the L*, a*,
b* and WI values of thawed lotus roots had a little decrease but
still close to the fresh samples, which indicated that IF and
UAF had an advantage over ABF on color preservation.

3.3.
Effect of different freezing methods on firmness and
drip loss after thawing
The texture of many plant foods was determined by the cell
wall composition and contents, which is one of the most
important sensory characteristics determining consumer
preferences (Chiang and Luo, 2007). Fig. 1 shows the firmness,

Table 2 e Effects of different freezing methods on the color values of lotus root (Control: Fresh, ABF: air blast freezing, IF:
immersion freezing, UIF: ultrasound-assisted immersion freezing).
Stages
Freezing

Thawing

Treatments
Control
ABF
IF
UIF-1
UIF-2
UIF-3
UIF-4
UIF-5
ABF
IF
UIF-1
UIF-2
UIF-3
UIF-4
UIF-5

Explanations as in Table 1.

L*
71.43
65.99
73.62
74.62
73.71
74.99
74.01
72.39
65.43
68.31
68.36
68.36
70.73
70.00
68.81

1.59cd
0.23a
1.18e
1.01e
0.63e
1.01e
1.06e
0.84d
0.58a
2.68b
0.39b
0.49b
0.61c
0.61c
0.65b

a*
0.22
0.72
0.68
1.29
1.45
0.21
0.29
1.34
0.25
0.09
0.70
0.45
0.72
0.90
0.38

0.14bc
0.59cd
0.35cd
0.90d
0.18d
0.20bc
0.30bc
0.31d
0.43abc
0.86ab
0.31a
0.48ab
0.62a
0.46a
1.19bc

b*
11.49
10.33
10.34
12.31
12.20
11.93
12.41
12.15
6.10
6.00
8.28
7.38
8.87
8.87
7.69

1.42ef
0.30cd
0.69cd
1.59f
0.80ef
0.63f
1.49f
0.61a
0.42a
1.66b
1.81ab
0.48bc
1.05bc
1.05bc
0.85ab

WI
69.17
65.44
71.87
71.77
70.51
72.28
71.17
69.79
65.87
67.23
67.25
67.50
69.39
69.38
67.85

1.56c
0.28a
1.23d
1.41d
0.60d
0.45d
1.26d
0.57cd
0.55a
1.67b
0.33b
0.39b
0.30c
0.30c
0.57b

63

i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 5 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 5 9 e6 5

the index for texture, changes of lotus roots subjected to

different freezing treatments. Compared to the control samples, all frozen samples showed a significant decrease in
firmness after thawing, which suggested that crystallization
of ice during freezing process causes cell damage, resulting in
its texture changed (Sanz et al., 1999). Reduction in textural
firmness were in the order of UIF-2 < UIF-3< UIF-1 < UIF4 < UIF-5 < IF < BAF samples. The ABF samples firmness
showed the largest decrease from 1954 to 1093 g. This was
considered to contribute to the lowest freezing rate which
resulted in the formation of the relatively large and extracellular ice crystals. Similar results were reported by Chourot
et al. (2003). When compared with the IF samples, a significant increase in the firmness after thawing of UIF samples was
found due to its improvement in the freezing rate (as shown in
Table 1). These results indicated that UIF appeared to be
effective in reducing histological damage and improving the
texture of thawed lotus root.
The drip loss of most fruits and vegetables, after thawing,
might involve soluble solids, such as polysaccharides, proteins and a small fraction of the water-soluble vitamins and
minerals. The results of drip loss associated with the lotus
roots subjected to different freezing treatments are presented in Fig. 1. The UIF process significantly reduced the
thawing drip loss as compared with the two conventional
freezing processes (8.2%~11.3%, 12.9% and 18.5% for UIF, IF
and ABF samples respectively). This could be related to the
ice crystal size during the freezing process. It was reported
in literature that crystallization damaged the cell structure
resulting in drip loss (Sanz et al., 1999). Thus, it could be
concluded that reduced drip loss from UIF samples are
attributed to the relative smaller ice crystals formed during
the UIF process that resulted in considerably less damage to
lotus roots when compared to that from the conventional
processes. When compared with IF treatment, UIF-1, UIF-4
and UIF-5 treatments had little impact on deceasing the
thawing drip loss (p  0.05) due to its little improvement in
the freezing rate which directly related to the crystal size
and size distribution (Li et al., 2006). UIF-2 treatment was
selected for the best condition for minimizing the thawing
drip loss.

3.4.
Effect of different freezing methods on the vitamin C
content of lotus root
Vitamin C (VC) is an important nutrient component of frozen
fruits and vegetables, and routinely used as an index to
measure processing effects on nutrient retention due to its
lability (Giannakourou and Taoukis, 2003). Fig. 2 showed the
VC content changes of lotus roots subjected to different
freezing treatments. Compared to the control samples, all
frozen samples showed a significant decrease in VC content,
which was because VC was affected by the pretreatment due
to its heat lability. When comparing the VC amount retained
in samples prepreaed from different freezing techniques, ABF
and IF samples showed higher amount of VC than that from
UIF samples. In addition, the effect of ultrasound irradiation
can be read from Fig. 2. Slight variation in VC amount can be
read from UIF samples with different processing parameters
(especially for UIF-3 sample), this could be attributed to the

50

d
40

30

c
b
ab

20

ab

10

Control

ABF

IF

UIF-1

UIF-2

UIF-3

UIF-4

UIF-5

Fig. 2 e Changes of vitamin C content (%) of lotus root

under different freezing methods (Control: Fresh, ABF: air
blast freezing, IF: immersion freezing, UIF: ultrasoundassisted immersion freezing; UIF-1(90 W, 30 s on/30 s off),
UIF-2(150 W, 30 s on/30 s off), UIF-3(210 W, 30 s on/30 s off),
UIF-4(150 W, 15 s on/45 s off) and UIF-5(150 W, 45 s on/15 s
off)). The results are mean standard deviation (n 3).
Values with different superscript letters in a column are
significantly different (P 0.05).

free radicals in sonolysis of water molecules oxidating VC

(O'Donnell et al., 2010) under ultrasound irradiation. However,
due to the low concentration of free radicals generated, ultrasound irradiation had not significant impact on VC as read
from the difference of VC amount between UIF samples is
small. As a result, selection of appropriate ultrasonic processing parameters can adjust vitamin C retention under
refrigeration.

3.5.
Effect of different freezing methods on the
microstructure of lotus root
Microstructure and their degradation play major roles in food
quality and are generally under estimated in their importance
in food quality. To visualize the difference between samples
prepared from different freezing processes, a scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of one representative series of samples
of each group was studied (ABF: 35  C, 3.8 m s1; IF:25  C;
UIF:25  C, 150 W, 30 s on/30 s off). It can be seen in the Fig. 3
that the raw lotus root samples (Fig. 3A) showed a partly
damaged cell structure due to ice sublimation during freeze
drying for SEM preparation, but basically remained well
defined and organized individual cells. After the freezing
process, the cells appeared torn and irregular in shape and
some loss of amorphous material and tissue distortion were
observed, comparing Fig. 3AeD. Compared to other freezing
methods, ABF caused the largest destruction of tissue texture
(Fig. 3B), which manually supported the argument that the
lower the freezing rate usually formed the large and extracellular ice crystals resulting in texture damage, as reported
by Sanz et al. (1999). The microstructure of the UIF samples
(Fig. 3D) was less damaged than the microstructure of the IF

64

i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 5 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 5 9 e6 5

Fig. 3 e SEM images of the frozen lotus roots. (A) raw lotus roots, (B) air blast frozen lotus roots (35  C, 3.8 m s1), (C)
immersion frozen lotus roots (25  C), (D) ultrasound-assisted immersion frozen lotus roots (25  C, 150 W, 30 s on/30 s off).

samples (Fig. 3C), which indicated that the use of power ultrasound provides a useful approach to minimize the damage
of cell structure (Deora et al., 2013). These results were in
agreement with the results of the texture analysis in this
experiment, UIF processing seems to be the best freezing
method to retain the texture the most.

4.

Conclusions

The effect of three freezing techniques, air blast freezing,

immersion freezing and ultrasound-assisted immersion
freezing, on quality and microstructure of lotus root has
been comprehensive studied. Freezing time, color, drip loss,
texture, vitamin C content and microstructure were
measured. ABF was the most time consuming and uneconomic method, on the other hand, ultrasound-assisted immersion freezing at 150 W and 30 s intervals shortened the
freezing time by approx. 17% accordingly. IF and UIF method
exhibited better color retaining ability than ABF method,
while ABF and IF method resulted in higher amount of VC
retained than that from UIF method. The clearest advantage
of UIF method is the fast freezing rate it offered. With a fast
freezing rate from UIF method, the UIF samples showed an
improved firmness, reduced drip loss and less damaged
microstructure.

Acknowledgments
This work was financially supported by the National Scientific
& Technological Supporting Project of China (Contract No.
2012BAD27B03-3) and the National Science Foundation of
China (Contract No. 21176104).

references

 ndez, C., Canet, W., 2005. Effect of freezing/
Alvarez,
M.D., Ferna
thawing conditions and long-term frozen storage on the
quality of mashed potatoes. J. Sci. Food Agric. 85, 2327e2340.
Chiang, P.Y., Luo, Y., 2007. Effects of pressurized cooking on the
relationship between the chemical compositions and texture
changes of lotus root (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.). Food Chem.
105, 480e484.
Chourot, J.M., Lauwers, J., Massoji, N., Lucas, T., 2001. Behaviour
of green beans during the immersion chilling and freezing. Int.
J. Food Sci. Tech. 36, 179e187.
Chourot, J.M., Macchi, H., Fournaison, L., Guilpart, J., 2003.
Technical and economical model for the freezing cost
comparison of immersion, cryomechanical and air blast
freezing processes. Energy Convers. Manage. 44, 559e571.
Comandini, P., Blanda, G., Soto-Caballero, M.C., Sala, V.,
Tylewicz, U., Mujica-Paz, H., Valdez, F.A., Gallina, T.T., 2013.

i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f r e f r i g e r a t i o n 5 2 ( 2 0 1 5 ) 5 9 e6 5

Effects of power ultrasound on immersion freezing

parameters of potatoes. Innov. Food Sci. Emerg. 1, 1e6.
Delgado, A.E., Rubiolo, A.C., 2005. Microstructural changes in
strawberry after freezing and thawing processes. Food Sci.
Tech. 38, 135e142.
Delgado, A.E., Zheng, L.Y., Sun, D.W., 2009. Influence of
ultrasound on freezing rate of immersion-frozen apples. Food
Bioprocess Technol. 2, 263e270.
Deora, N.S., Misra, N.N., Deswal, A., Mishra, H.N., Cullen, P.J.,
Tiwari, B.K., 2013. Ultrasound for improved crystallisation in
food processing. Food Eng. Rev. 5, 36e44.
Giannakourou, M.C., Taoukis, P.S., 2003. Kinetic modelling of
vitamin C loss in frozen green vegetables under variable
storage conditions. Food Chem. 83, 33e41.
Guo, H.B., 2008. Cultivation of lotus (Nelumbo nucifera Gaertn.
ssp. nucifera) and its utilization in China. Genet. Resour. Crop
Evol. 56 (3), 323e330.
Hu, S.Q., Liu, G., Li, L., Li, Z.X., Hou, Y.i, 2013. An improvement in
the immersion freezing process for frozen dough via
ultrasound irradiation. J. Food Eng. 114, 22e28.
Kiani, H., Sun, D.W., Zhang, Z.H., 2013. Effects of processing
parameters on the convective heat transfer rate during
ultrasound assisted low temperature immersion treatment of
a stationary sphere. J. Food Eng. 115, 384e390.
Kiani, H., Sun, D.W., Zhang, Z., 2012. The effect of ultrasound
irradiation on the convective heat transfer rate during
immersion cooling of a stationary sphere. Ultrason.
Sonochem. 19, 1238e1245.
Kidmose, U., Martens, H.J., 1999. Changes in texture,
microstructure and nutritional quality of carrot slices during
blanching and freezing. J. Sci. Food Agric. 79, 1747e1753.
Koushki, M.R., Mohammadi, M., Javadi, N.H.S., Komeily, R.,
Moslemy, M., Ahmadian, F.S., Zali, H., 2013. The influence of
freezing conditions on the organoleptic attributes of Iranian
leafy vegetable foods. JPS 4, 42e47.
Lakshmisha, I.P., Ravishankar, C.N., Ninan, G., Mohan, C.O.,
Gopal, T.K.S., 2008. Effect of freezing time on the quality of
Indian Mackerel (Rastrelliger kanagurta) during frozen
storage. J. Food Sci. 73, 345e353.

65

Li, H., Guo, Z., Liu, Y., 2006. The application of power ultrasound
to reaction crystallization. Ultrason. Sonochem. 13, 359e363.
Man, J.M., Cai, J.W., Cai, C.H., Xu, B., Huai, H.Y., Wei, C.X., 2012.
Comparison of physicochemical properties of starches from
seed and rhizome of lotus. Carbohydr. Polym. 88, 676e683.
Norton, T., Delgado, A., Hogan, E., Grace, P., Sun, D.W., 2009.
Simulation of high pressure freezing processes by enthalpy
method. J. Food Eng 91, 260e268.
O'Donnell, C.P., Tiwari, B.K., Bourkec, P., Cullenc, P.J., 2010. Effect
of ultrasonic processing on food enzymes of industrial
importance. Trends Food Sci. Tech. 21, 358e367.
Rupasinghe, H.P.V., Boulter-Bitzer, J., Ahn, T., Odumeru, J.A., 2006.
Vanillin inhibits pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms
in vitro and aerobic microbial growth in fresh-cut apples. Food
Res. Int. 39, 575e580.
Sahari, M.A., Boostani, F.M., Hamidi, E.Z., 2004. Effect of low
temperature on the ascorbic acid content and quality
characteristics of frozen strawberry. Food Chem. 86, 357e363.
Sanz, P.D., Elvira, C., Martinob, M., Zaritzkyb, N., Oteroa, L.,
Carrascoa, J.A., 1999. Freezing rate simulation as an aid to
reducing crystallization damage in foods. Meat Sci. 52,
275e278.
Singh, R.P., Heldman, D.R., 2009. Introduction to Food
Engineering, Fourth ed. Academic Press, Oxford, UK.
Sun, D.W., Li, B., 2003. Microstructural change of potato tissue
frozen by ultrasound-assisted immersion freezing. J. Food Eng.
57, 337e345.
Xing, Y.G., Li, X.H., Xu, Q.L., Jiang, Y.H., Yun, J., Li, W.L., 2010.
Effects of chitosan-based coating and modified atmosphere
packaging (MAP) on browning and shelf life of fresh-cut lotus
root (Nelumbo nucifera Gaerth). Innov. Food Sci. Emerg. 11,
684e689.
Zheng, L.Y., Sun, D.W., 2005. Innovative applications of power
ultrasound during food freezing processesda review. Trends
Food Sci. Tech. 17, 16e23.
Zorrilla, S.E., Rubiolo, A.C., 2005. Mathematical modeling for
immersion chilling and freezing of foods. Part I: model
development. J. Food Eng 66, 329e338.