Experiment 3: BLANCHING OF FOOD AND VEGETABLES

RESULTS

Blanching Samples Exposure time Physical characteristic

conditions (s) Color Odor

0 yellow hard Odorless

20 yellow hard Odorless
Vegetables 40 Slightly yellow Slightly Odorless
(Baby corn) hard
60 Yellowish Slightly odorless
smooth
80 Yellowish smooth Odorless
brown
100 Yellowish dark soft Odorless
brown
120 Yellowish dark soft odorless
brown

Table 1: Evaluation on the physical characteristic of blanched sample.

Blanching Samples Exposure time Catalase Test

conditions (s) (No of evolution gas)

0 Uncountabl
e
Vegetables 20 22
(Baby corn) 40 17
60 13
80 10
100 6
120 4

Table 2: Catalase activity of blanched samples.

 Diagram 1: Catalase activity on baby corn

Samples Exposure time (S) Observation

Baby corn
20

40

60
80
100

120
DISCUSSION

The experiment was carried out to determine the blanching time of vegetables. Blanching
is a two-step process in which foods are plunged into boiling water, usually for only a minute or
two and then put into ice water rapidly. The aims for blanching are to inactivate the native
enzymes and to destroy enzyme substrates to reduce the microbial load in the food and raw
material [ CITATION Res151 \l 1033 ] . When a food is blanched properly, the flavor, color, texture,
and nutritional value is preserved. Vegetables such as cabbages were often blanched in order to
enhance their natural green color, as well as softening them blanching gently softens the outside
of the food while keeping the interior crisp, sweetens the produce a little, and causes the
vegetable to hold its color for a longer period of time [ CITATION Hea12 \l 1033 ].

Based on the result above, the exposure time given for blanching was between 0 until 120
seconds. For baby corn as food sample, there were 3 physical characteristics that can be observed
which were color, texture and odor. It can be seen that when the time increase, the color of the
baby corn also change. The color of the baby corn was getting darker as the time increase. For
texture of the baby corn, as the time increase, the texture went from hard to soft. It was because
blanching increases the proportion of soft, white leek flesh at the base, while reducing the
amount of coarse green top that's usually discarded during cooking [ CITATION Sci152 \l 1033 ]. It
also can be observed that blanching process for baby corn produced odorless smell.

Besides that, the result on table 2 shows the result for catalase test on baby corn. From
table 2, it can observe that as time increase, the number of the evolution gas decrease. The
number of evolution gas were uncountable at 0 second and the amount kept decreasing at 120
seconds as only 4 bubbles that can be observed. Blanching is the process of cooking a food in
boiling water for a short period of time before plunging it into freezing water. Once the food is
placed in boiling water, it naturally kills off 99.9% of bacteria and microbes; thereby greatly
reducing the chance of food-borne illness Hence, once the food is placed in boiling water, it
naturally kills off 99.9% of bacteria and microbes; thereby greatly reducing the chance of food-
borne illness [ CITATION Dig15 \l 1033 ]. It can be conclude that, the number of evolution gas
decrease because blanching process inactive the native enzymes and to destroy enzymes
substrates such as peroxide to reduce the microbial load in the food and raw material.
 There are many advantages of blanching process. Blanching slows or stops the action of
enzymes. Enzymes cause vegetables to grow and mature. If vegetables were not blanched or
blanching was not long enough, the enzymes continue to be active during frozen storage causing
off-colors, off-flavors and toughening [ CITATION Eli13 \l 1033 ]. Other than that, blanching causes
better exposures of pigments hence improves the color of food products and the microorganisms
present on surface are partially removed and blanching is one of cooking technique that only
required short period of time [ CITATION Lip14 \l 1033 ]

Reference

Andress, E. L. (2013). The importance of blanching. Blanching process.

DigitalCommons. (2015). Effects of Blanching. Preservation process.

HealtyEating. (2012). Nutrition in Blanching. Blanching process.

LipidLibrary. (2014). Blanching process. Preservation.

ResearchGate. (2015). Blanching process. Presevation.

ScienceDirect. (2015). Blanching vegetables. Food Processing .