Lebensm.-Wiss. u.-Technol.

, 29, 489–497 (1996)

Deep-fat Frying of Plantain (Musa paradisiaca L.).

I. Characterization of Control Parameters
A. Diaz, A. Totte, F. Giroux, M. Reynes and A. L. Raoult-Wack*

A. Totte, M. Reynes, A. L. Raoult-Wack: CIRAD, B.P. 5035, F-34032 Montpellier Cedex (France)
F. Giroux: ENSIA-SIARC, B.P. 5098, F-34033 Montpellier Cedex 1 (France)
A. Diaz: UNIVALLE, B.P. 25360, Cali (Colombie)
(Received June 14, 1995; accepted September 30, 1995)

A frying process to make plantain (Musa paradisiaca L.) chips in palm oil was investigated. The effects of the main control
parameters (initial temperature of oil in frying bath, processing time and stirring velocity) on the response variables (plantain
water loss and fat gain, relative variations in oil temperature, and energy consumption) were studied. Frying kinetics at the centre
point of the experimental design were established at 120, 240, 360 and 600 s. The Munsell colour scale was used to assess the
colour of chips for kinetics at the centre point. According to the experimental design validation results, an initial oil bath
temperature of 165 °C should be used to obtain plantain chips with a final water content of less than 5 g/100 g of fried product
and a fat gain of less than 16 g/100 g of fried product, with a processing time of 200 s, thus allowing minimal energy consumption/
kg evaporated water (En0).

©1996 Academic Press Limited

Introduction Plantain is not commonly processed on an industrial

World plantain production is presently 15 Mt/year (1).
Africa (Nigeria, Zaire, Côte d’Ivoire and Cameroon)
and Latin America (Colombia, Equador, Peru and
Venezuela) account for 52% and 42% of this output,
respectively, but this does not meet world demand and
plantain production is therefore increasing worldwide.
Plantain is generally sold on domestic markets, with less
than 2% exported internationally, mainly as fresh fruit
(2).
Plantain is a perennial plant of the Musaceae family
(genus Musa, species paradisiaca L.) which contains
60–70 g water/100g pulp (3,4). The fruit also contains
soluble carbohydrates in the form of starches which are
transformed into sugars during the ripening process.
There are very few lipids and proteins, but vitamin A,
B1, B2 and C content is high in the fresh fruit. Plantain
has a shelf-life of about 30 d in a ventilated storehouse
at 26–30 °C (5).
There are many different conventional ways of consum-
ing plantain, and it is often processed by deep-fat
frying. A few domestic and small-scale industrial
preparations are: alloko (West Africa) or tajadas (Latin
America) — pieces of ripe plantain fried in palm oil;
patacones or tostones (Latin America and West Indies)
— slices of green plantain fried once or twice
(depending on the thickness) in a vegetable oil/animal
fat (60:40) mixture; and plantain slices fried in copra oil
(Asia).
*To whom correspondence should be addressed.
scale. According to the FAO Food Production Year-
book (6), no established plantain processing units have
been set up in West Africa. However, there are
certainly small-scale processing operations carried out
by plantain producers, and plantain chips are marketed
in Cameroon and Nigeria (7). There are also small-scale
Latin American plantain processing operations in
Colombia, Equador, Costa Rica and Puerto Rico (8).
Some technical problems may arise during plantain
processing. For instance, green plantain cannot be
peeled mechanically and the fruit must first undergo a
hot water treatment (9). The appearance of the
processed product is affected by the degree of ripeness;
although this does not modify the taste (10,11), an
antioxidant pretreatment is required to prevent brown-
ing (12).
The deep-fat frying process to make plantain chips is
still not fully mastered. Major qualitative defects can
arise, e.g. the chips can turn rancid within a month after
processing (13), free fatty acid levels can increase
during long-term storage (14) and the degree of
ripeness can affect the final water content of the
product (15). Moreover, ideal processing times and
temperatures are highly variable. They depend on the
type of processing equipment and pressure used
(atmospheric pressure or vacuum), the shape and size
of the plantain pieces, the product/fat mass ratio, the
type of fat used and the temperature drop that occurs
when the product is plunged into the fryer.
Moreover, authors do not always provide full details of

0023-6438/96/050489 + 09$18.00/0 ©1996 Academic Press Limited

489
lwt/vol. 29 (1996) Nos. 5 & 6
the processing condition used in their studies. It is
therefore difficult to draw conclusions on the effect of
the state of the raw material and the influence of
process variables on final product quality.
Badia (12) recommended processing temperatures of
180–190 °C for frying plantain slices of 1.5 – 2.5 mm
thickness. He points out that using processing tem-
peratures higher than 200 °C causes rapid fat degrada-
tion, reduces the shelf-life of the plantain chips and
destroys antioxidants. Ogazi (16) used frying tem-
peratures of 190–200 °C for 300–600 s, but the exact
plantain slice thicknesses were not provided. Rasit and
Augustin (17) and Soriano et al. (15) conducted their
plantain processing operations at 150–200 °C for
180–240 s and obtained a 10 °C decrease in fat (refined
palm olein) temperature and a final chip water content
of 1.3–8.2 g/100 g final product. De Carvalho et al. (14)
fried banana chips in stainless steel containers with
cotton oil at 120 ± 5 °C for 1200 s. González et al. (18)
used different types of frying oil to analyse their
oxidative stability; they fried 1.6-mm thick plantain
chips at 187 °C for 180 s. Sánchez Nieva et al. (11)
studied methods to make tostones from frozen pieces
of plantain (–23.3 °C); they used a frying temperature
of 176.6 °C, with two frying treatments of 240 s and 120
s. Kutty et al. (19) assessed the optimal ripeness stage
for processing 1.75 3 2-mm thick plantain chips at a
frying temperature of 160–170 °C for 300 s.
The present preliminary study was mainly focused on
determining the control parameters for frying plantain
chips in palm oil, and characterizing plantain chip
processing conditions. Some control parameters for the
deep-fat frying process at atmospheric pressure were
also investigated, e.g. oil bath temperature, processing
time, stirring velocity, slice thickness and product/fat
mass ratio. We evaluated their effects, during process-
ing, on the following response variables: water loss
(WL), fat gain (FG), relative decrease in the oil bath
temperature (∆T), cumulative energy consumption
(En) and energy consumption/kg evaporated water
(En0).
Materials and Methods
A double-sided circular fryer, as illustrated in Fig. 1,
was used for all experiments. The fryer tank dimensions
were 28 cm i.d. and 27 cm high. The fryer was equipped
with two electric heating resistors embedded in the
bottom (2000 W) and sides (1500 W) of the tank; they
were not in direct contact with the oil bath. These
heating elements were set to obtain maximum heating
output. The tank was also equipped with a stirring unit,
which included a shaft support, attached centrally to
the bottom of the tank, a mobile semi-helicoidal blade
for co-axial stirring, and a deflector fitted to the shaft at
the same level as the stirring blade. The stirrer was
powered by a variable speed 100 W motor. The
temperature was measured with a J-type thermocouple
(0.1 °C accuracy) placed 3.5 cm from the bottom of the
tank and 6.5 cm from the stirrer axis. An all-or-nothing
490
4
1
5
6
3
7
8
2
Fig. 1 Experimental fryer and accessories. (1) = double-sided
tank; (2) = bottom heating resistor (2 kW); (3) = side
heating resistor (1.5 kW); (4) = stirrer; (5) = semi-helicoidal
blade; (6) = deflector; (7) = shaft support; (8) =
thermocouple
proportional plus integral derivative controller (PID)
was used to regulate the oil bath temperature. This
controller was connected to a computer through a data
acquisition software programme for recording the oil
bath temperature (T) at 10 s intervals and cumulative
energy consumption (En) over the timecourse of
processing.
Colombian plantains used for this study had the
following characteristics: initial water content (wet
basis) (WCi) of 60 ± 1 g/100 g pulp; starch content of
about 30 g/100 g pulp; initial fat content (FCi) of 0.2
g/100 g pulp; maximum sugar content of 7 g sucrose/
100 g occluded solution. The total sugar content was
determined by refractometry (ATAGO, 0–32° Brix
scale, 0.2° Brix accuracy) with 0.5 g water/g pulp
samples.
Plantains were kept in a temperature-controlled store-
room (13 ± 1 °C) until use. Before each trial, plantain
peels were removed manually and the pulp was sliced
finely (2.1 ± 0.2 mm thick) with a mechanical slicer
with an adjustable disk blade (KRUPS Compact 350).
Plantain slices underwent a standardizing pretreatment
to reduce sticking and nonenzymatic oxidation. Slices
were plunged into a solution containing 7 g sucrose and
0.5 g citric acid/100 g solution, in a stirred water-bath, at
25 °C, and left for 15 min; the pretreated slices were
then blotted on paper towels. The term slice refers to
the fresh raw material (unfried) and chip is the final
fried product.
Fresh palm oil was used in all frying trials. The low
polyunsaturated fatty acid content of this fat provides
high oxidative stability (20). The fryer was filled with
3 kg of fat and heated to the processing temperature
(TFi) for 30–45 min with stirring. About 300 g of
pretreated plantain slices were weighed (initial mass,
mi). A plantain slice/fat mass ratio (R) of 1/10 was used.
At time t = ti, the stirrer was stopped for a few seconds
to immerse the plantain into the oil bath; it was then
restarted and left running throughout processing. At t =
tf, the stirrer was stopped and removed from the fryer
 lwt/vol. 29 (1996) Nos. 5 & 6

tank. The plantain chip samples were then removed Table 1 Trial matrix with the real values used in the
experimental design (T=150°C, R=1/10 ad wa=5.2 rad/s)
from the oil bath, emptied into a basket and left to drip
for about 1 min at room temperature. Chips were Experiment Trial T oil Time wa
no. order (°C) (s) (rad s)
blotted with paper towels to remove excess surface fat,
cooled and weighed (final mass, mf). 13 1 150 600 5.2
The whole sample was blended, and the final water 9 2 170 430 3.6
7 3 170 770 6.9
content (WCf) was measured by oven-drying the 5 4 170 80 5.2
blended plantain at 102 °C to constant weight (21). All 6 5 130 1120 5.2
samples were weighed on analytical scales (Sartorius, 11 6 130 770 6.9
10–4 g accuracy). FCf was determined by hexane 10 7 150 950 3.6
extraction (22). 14 8 150 600 5.2
8 9 130 430 3.6
Water loss (WL), in g/100 g initial product, was 3 10 170 1120 5.2
determined from the water content (WC), at t = ti and 4 11 130 80 5.2
t = tf, and the initial and final masses, by the following 12 12 150 250 6.9
equation: 2 13 110 600 5.2
1 14 190 600 5.2
WL(t) = [WCi – WCf × (mf/mi)] × 100 Eqn [1] 15 15 150 600 5.2

Fat gain (FG), in g/100 g initial product, was deter-

mined from the fat content (FC) at t = ti and t = tf, by
the following equation:
FG(t) = [FCf (mf/mi) × 100] – FCi Eqn [2]
The relative oil bath temperature decrease (∆T) at the
beginning of the frying process was calculated by the
following equation:
%∆T = [(TFi – T0)/TFi] × 100 Eqn [3]
where T0 represents the minimum temperature of the
oil bath after its decrease at the beginning of
processing.
The total power output of the fryer was taken into
account when determining cumulative energy con-
sumption (En). Note that the power required for
stirring (100 W) was very low as compared to that
drawn by the heating elements (3500 W).
The Doehlert uniform shell design (23–25) was used to
assess combined control variable effects. A second-
degree polynomial model was used to describe the
response variables (Y), i.e. WL, FG, ∆T, En and En0
relative to the following control variables (X):
X1 : initial oil bath temperature in °C, TFi = (110–
190)
X2 : final processing time in seconds, tf = (1–1200)
X3 : stirring velocity in rad/s, wa = (3.1–7.3)
Y = A0 + ∑aiXi + ∑aii Xi2 + ∑aijXiXj Eqn [4]
where ai, aii and aij represented the linear, quadratic
and between-factor effects, respectively. The levels of
these factors were 3 (X1), 7 (X2) and 5 (X3). The
experimental design was set up with a series of 15
experimental points, and three replicates at the centre
point. The central point of the experimental domain
was defined by: TFi = 150 °C; tf = 600 s; wa = 5.2 rad/s.
A trial matrix with the real values used in the
experimental design is given in Table 1.
The model coefficients were determined from the
experimental results by multiple regression and the
response surfaces were drawn up. The Statgraphics
software package (STSC Inc., 1991) was used for
statistical and graphical analysis of the experimental
design results. Fisher’s test was used to assess the
validity of each coefficient (R2 determination coeffi-
cient). Differences were considered significant at the
0.05 level.
A chromameter (Minolta) was used to evaluate plan-
tain chip colour. Mean reference values were thus
obtained with reference to the Munsell colour scale
(26).
Results
Frying kinetics at the centre point of the experimental
design
Figure 2 shows changes in fat gain (FG), water loss
(WL), cumulative energy consumption (En) and oil
bath temperature (T) during the frying process at the
centre point of the experimental design (TFi = 150 °C;
wa = 5.2 rad/s and processing times of 120, 240, 360 and
600 s).
The standard deviations of FG and WL at the centre
point were 1.2 and 0.1 g/100 g initial product, respec-
tively, and 0.6% for ∆T, which corresponds to relative
standard errors of less than 5%. The standard devia-
tions were 17.4 kJ for En and 520.9 kJ/kg evaporated
water for En0, corresponding to relative standard errors
of 3.0% and 8.9%, respectively.
Figure 2 highlights two phases in the plantain chip
frying process : (i) an initial phase from 0 to 120 s, when
high mass transfer occurred. During this phase, there
was very intense boiling in the oil bath along with a
sharp drop in temperature (20 °C in about 60 s). WL
was 48.8 ± 2.8 g/100 g initial product for a WCf of 17
g/100 g fried product; and FG was 14.9 ± 0.8 g/100 g
initial product for a FCi of 23 g/100 g final product; (ii)
a second phase after 120 s, when the oil bath tem-
perature increased as the boiling decreased. In addi-
tion, there were lower mass transfer, WL decreased
after 240 s (WC of 4.6 g/100 g fried product) and
plateaued at about 360 s at a level of 59 ± 0.3 g/100 g
initial product (or a WC of 1.6 g/100 g fried product). In

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lwt/vol. 29 (1996) Nos. 5 & 6

200 1000 180 300

180 900 160

En (kJ); WL (g/100 g initial product)

250

T (°C); WC (g/100 g fried product);

140

FG (g/100 g initial product

160 800
T (°C); WL, FG (g/100 g initial product)

120 200
140 700
100
150
120 600
80

En (kJ)
100 500 60 100

80 400 40
50
20
60 300
0
40 200 0 30 60 90 120
Time (s)

20 100 Fig. 3 Frying kinetics at the centre point of the experimental

design at 165 °C initial oil bath temperature, 1/40 product/fat
mass ratio, 5.2 rad/s stirring velocity for 30, 60, 90 and 120 s.
0
0 60 120 180 240 300 360 420 480 540 (n) = oil bath temperature (T); (j) = cumulative energy
Time (s) consumption (En); (r) = water loss (WL); (s) = fat gain
(FG); (x) = chips water content (WC)
Fig. 2 Frying kinetics at the centre point of the experimental
design at 150 °C initial oil bath temperature, 1/10 product/fat
mass ratio, 5.2 rad/s stirring velocity and processing times of frying process. The plantain chips had a suitable colour
120, 240, 360 and 600 s. (r) = oil bath temperature (T); up to 240 s frying, thereafter they were too brown.
(-) = cumulative energy consumption (En); (s) = water loss
(WL); (m) = fat gain (FG)
Kinetics at low mass ratios
contrast, FG in the product increased steadily to 26.8 Figure 3 shows the changes that occurred in FG, WL,
g/100 g initial product during 600 s of processing, WC, En and T during the frying process at a low mass
corresponding to a plantain chip FCf of 40.5 ± 1.3 ratio (R = 1/40), T = 165 °C, wa = 5.2 rad/s, with a
g/100 g fried product. series of frying times of 30, 60, 90 and 120 s. The kinetics
Cumulative energy consumption over the time course results at a low mass ratio indicate a two-phase process,
of the frying process is also given in Fig. 2. More than but not identical to the phase phenomenon shown in
88% of the energy was consumed during the first 240 s Fig. 2: (i) an initial short 60-s phase when WL reached
of frying. about 54 g/100 g initial product, with about 80% of the
Table 2 gives the Munsell notations characterizing the total energy consumption; (ii) a second phase after 60 s,
colour of plantain chips for kinetics at the centre point. where WL and FG plateaued at 90 s (golden chips), i.e.
This measurement differentiates yellow, reddish–yellow at a WC of 3.2 ± 0.7 g/100 g fried product and FC of 37
and brown shades of chips over the timecourse of the g/100 g fried product. The chips were redder after 120 s
frying (WC = 1.7 ± 0.2 g/100g fried product and
Table 2 Colour of plantain chips for kinetics at the centre stabilized FG).
point of the experimental design (T=150 °C, R=1/10 and
wa=5.2 rad s)
Time (s) Experimental design results
Munsell notationa Notes
120 2.5Y 8.5/10–(8/12) Limp chips, not cooked
The experimental design results are given in Table 3,
enough. Light to golden along with the regression coefficients of the Doehlert
yellow. Translucent. model and significance levels of the factor effects on the
2
240 5Y 8.5/10–(7/12) Crispy chips Drier. Golden five response variables (∆T, En, En0, FG, WL). The R
yellow, sometimes reddish determination coefficients are also given for each
Opaque. variable. The determination coefficients obtained with
360 2.5Y 8/10–(7/10) Dry crispy chips. Bright the Doehlert experimental design were quite adequate
yellow, reddish shades. for ∆T (R2 = 0.94), En (R2 = 0.84) and En0 (R2 = 0.81).
Greasier. This indicated a good model fit for these response
600 2.5Y 8/10–(7/12) Crispy chips. Dark brown. variables. However, the determination coefficients for
Very greasy. FG and WL were lower (R2 = 0.75 and 0.70, respec-
a 2.5 Y=yellow (value 22.5 on the Munsell colour scale); tively). These results could be explained by the very
5 Y=bright yellow (value 25 on the Munsell colour scale). wide range of temperatures and times in the domain
Extreme values, in parentheses. covered by the experimental design, i.e. mass transfer

492
 lwt/vol. 29 (1996) Nos. 5 & 6

Table 3 Experimental design results—factor effects

Coefficient ∆T En En0 FG WL
Linear
constant 13.67 613.75 6363.9 28.01 59.58
a1 9.75*** 145.7** 493.46 (–) 2.38 (–) 8.84***
a2 1.3* 239.8** 2477.71** 6.59** 7.65***
a3 — — — — –0.53*
Combined
a12 3.12* 81.5* 978.26 (–) –3.84 (–) –7.66***
a13 — — — — 2.33**
a23 — — — — 1.85**
quadratic
a11 –3.33* –116.45* –1867.49* –14.52** –10.86***
a22 1.67 (–) –163.58** –1752.48* –8.17* –9.57***
a33 –1.84 (–) — — — 4.06***
R2 0.94 0.84 0.81 0.75 0.7

Y=A0+a1X1+a2X2+a3X3+a11X12+a22X22+a33X32+a12X1X2+a13X1X3+a23X2X3
where, X1=oil bath temperature; X2=frying time; X3=stirring velocity and
R2=adjusted determination coefficient.
***, **, * Significance level for P<0.001, P<0.01, P<0.05, respectively, and
(–) non significant coefficient.

mechanisms seem to be quite different on the edges of Figure 4 shows the response surface for WL = f (T,
the domain. time). Temperature had a substantial effect on WL at
short processing times in the 110–170 °C temperature
range. This effect was not as marked above ø 170 °C,
Significance of the effects on the response variables but we noted that the plantain chips were darker
Temperature and time had significant positive linear coloured. The isoresponse curves for WL = f (T, time)
effects on ∆T. The combined effects were significant. In are shown in Fig. 5. The objective is to keep the WCf
addition to the linear effect of temperature, there was a level lower than 5 g/100 g fried product, i.e. WL in the
significant negative quadratic effect. Temperature and
time also had significant positive linear effects on En.
The combined effects were only significant at a 10%
significance level. The positive linear effects were
counterbalanced by negative quadratic effects; they
were more significant for time than for temperature.
For En0, there was a significant positive linear effect of
time at the 1% significance level, whereas temperature
had no significant effect. There were also two negative
quadratic effects for temperature and time at the 5% 68

level.
There was a significant positive linear effect of time on 58
WL (g/100 g initial product)

FG. It was counterbalanced by a negative quadratic

effect. Note that the linear effect of temperature was
not significant at the 5% significance level, but it was at 48
10%.
For WL, all effects were significant, particularly for
temperature and time at the 1% level, with a significant 38

negative effect of stirring velocity at the 5% level. The

1200
combined effects were also significant, and time/ 28 1000
temperature had an antagonistic effect on the linear 800
effects. 600
There were highly significant quadratic effects for all 18 400
Time (s)
factors, and only the quadratic effect concerning the 110
130 200
stirring velocity was positive. This suggests that the 150
170 0
stirring factor could be used as a control variable in Temperature (°C)
190
squared velocity form in an experimental design,
considering the dimensionless numbers of Froude or Fig. 4 Response surface for WL = f (110–190 °C tem-
Weber, to improve characterization of the stirring peratures, 1–1200 s processing times, 3.1 to 7.3 rad/s stirring
power output. velocities)

493
lwt/vol. 29 (1996) Nos. 5 & 6

1200
48.8

1000
53.2

36
800

FG (g/100 g initial product)

57.6 27
600
Time (s)

18
400

9 1200
1000
200
800
600
0 Time (s)
110 400
22
26
31
35

40

44

130 200
0
.4
.8
.2
.6

.4

150
170 0
110 130 150 170 190 190
Temperature (°C)
Temperature (°C)
Fig. 6 Response surface for WL = f (110–190 °C tem-
Fig. 5 Isoresponse surface for WL = f (110–190 °C peratures, 1–1200 s processing times, 3.1 to 7.3 rad/s stirring
temperatures, 1–1200 s processing times, 3.1 to 7.3 rad/s velocities)
stirring velocities)

isoresponse zone of 57.7 g/100 g initial product. The

temperature ranges from 135 to 190 °C, and processing
time from 325 to 1200 s in this zone. As noted above,
temperatures above 170 °C had little effect on WL, and
the kinetics at the centre point (TFi = 150 °C, t = 600 s, 1200
wa = 5.2 rad/s) demonstrate that short processing times
have to be used (browning occurs above 240 s). We thus
focused on a reduced zone, i.e. 325–400 s processing
time and 155–185 °C temperature. 1000
14.5
Figure 6 shows the response surface for FG = f(T, time).
The shape of the response for FG clearly differs from
that of WL at short processing times. FG increased 800
26.1 23.2 20.3

significantly as the procesing time increased. The

isoresponse curves for FG = f(T, time) are shown in Fig. 17.4
Time (s)

7. The lowest fat uptake in the 325–400 s frying time

range was obtained at processing temperatures of 175 600
to 185 °C.
Figure 8 shows the response surface for En0 = f(T,
time). En0 increased over the time course of processing. 400
At a given processing time, En0 decreased as the
11.6
temperature increased from 140 °C. The isoresponse
curves shown in Fig. 9 show that between 175 and
185 °C, and 200 and 400 s, the En0 varied from 2500 to 200
8.7
5400 kJ/kg water. This is a considerable variation
(twofold) for a relatively small processing interval.
0 2.9 5.8
0

110 130 150 170 190

Colour results
Within the temperature range used in the experimental
design (110–190 °C), all plantain chips fried at tem-
peratures of less than 150 °C had uncooked zones or
Temperature (°C)
Fig. 7 Isoresponse curve for FG = f (110–190 °C temperatures,
1–1200 s processing times, 3.1 to 7.3 rad/s stirring velocities)

494
 lwt/vol. 29 (1996) Nos. 5 & 6

were pale yellow (2.5 Y 8/10) at short processing times,
or they were slightly yellow or red (10 YR) with a
greasy appearance at long processing times. Experi-
ment No. 12 in the experimental design (TFi = 150 °C,
t = 250 s and wa = 6.9 rad/s) produced the best
plantain chips in terms of colour and nongreasiness.
Experiments carried out above 170 °C produced brown
or red chips (7.5 YR 6/8) at 430 s (experiment No. 9),
and brown or burnt chips at longer processing times; all
of these chips were very greasy.
Validation of the experimental design results
The experimental design results were validated in the
zone of interest highlighted by the experimental design,
i.e. 200–325 s frying time, 150–170 °C processing
temperature and 5.2 rad/s stirring velocity — within
this zone, plantain chips were produced with a WCf of
less than 5 g/100 g fried product and a suitable golden
colour. Four validation points in the zone of interest
were thus chosen; the conditions and results are given
in Table 4b. In trial No. 3, carried out at 165 °C for 200 s,
the WC was slightly lower, but FG was higher, as
compared to trial No. 1 which was conducted under the
same operating conditions but at 170 °C. En0 was lower
at 165 °C.
The predicted responses, calculated from the iso-
response curves, are also presented in Table 4b. Note
that the plantain WCi was about 60 g/100 g pulp for the
experimental design results and 62 g/100 g pulp for the
validation results. For comparison of WL, we used the
percentage of evaporated water relative to WCi of the
plantain slices (denoted ‘Evap’ in Tables 4a and b). The
evaporation levels were slightly higher than those
predicted by the experimental design. Conversely, the
FG levels were lower than the predicted values. The

1200

7912.6
1000

7090.2
(× 1000)
10 800

6267.8
Time (s)

8
600 5445.4
Eno (kJ/kg)

6 4623

400 3800.6
4
2978.2

1200 2155.8
2 1000
200
800 1333.4

600
0 Time (s)
110 400
0
130 200
150
170 0 110 130 150 170 190
190 Temperature (°C)
Temperature (°C)

Fig. 9 Isoresponse curve for En0 = f (110–190 °C tem-

Fig. 8 Response surface for En0 = f (110–190 °C temperatures, peratures, 1–1200 s processing times, 3.1 to 7.3 rad/s stirring
1–1200 s processing times, 3.1 to 7.3 rad/s stirring velocities) velocities)

Table 4a Values predicted by the experimental design 1/10 mass ratio and
5.2 rad/s stirring velocity
Evap WL FG En En0
Trial (%) (g/100 g) (g/100 g) (kJ) (kJ/kge)
No. 1:200 s 91.7 55 18 470 3895
170 °C
No. 2:325 s 96.2 57.7 21 575 5015
170 °C
No. 3:200 s 90 54 19 480 4200
165 °C
No. 4:300 s 93.3 56 23 550 5400
157 °C

495
lwt/vol. 29 (1996) Nos. 5 & 6

Table 4b The experimental design validation results 1/10 mass ratio and 5.2 rad/s stirring
velocity
Evap WL FG En En0 WCwb FCwb
Trial (%) (g/100 g) (g/100 g) (kJ) (kJ/kge) (g/100 g) (g/100 g)
No. 1:200 s 96 59.6 13.8 600 4325 4.6 26.1
170 °C
No. 2:325 s 97.5 60.5 18.1 671 5258 3 31.9
170 °C
No. 3:200 s 96.6 59.9 15.3 574 4235 4.2 28.2
165 °C
No. 4:300 s 97 60.2 18.1 648 4984 3.5 32.2
157 °C
Evap=percentage evaporated water relative to the initial water content; WL
(g/100 g)=water loss per 100 g initial material; FG (g/100 g)=fat gain per 100 g initial
material; En (kJ)= total energy consumption; En0 (kJ/kge)=energy consumption per kg
evaporated water; WCwb (g/100 g)=water content of fried chips in wet basis; FCwb
(g/100 g)=fat content of fried chips in wet basis

predicted En levels were lower than the real values
obtained for all validation points.
Comparison of the actual results with the isoresponse
curves revealed that values in the zone around the
centre point were generally in agreement with the
actual experimental values obtained. In contrast,
under- or over-estimated values were obtained in
border zones of the experimental design.
Discussion
The experimental results with the standardization and
antioxidant pretreatments were reproducible, reliable
and very homogeneous raw material was obtained. This
pretreatment kept the plantain slices from sticking
together under suitable frying conditions, i.e. processing
times, oil bath temperatures and stirring velocities. A
pilot fryer fitted with a mixing and heating system
enabled homogeneous processing.
The experimental results showed that efficient homoge-
neity could not be obtained with the heating power
used (1.2 kW/L fat) at R = 1/10 mass ratio. In fact,
there was a decrease of about 20 °C in the oil bath
temperature at the beginning of the process, and
recovery to the initial set temperature took about 60 s,
which is not negligible as compared to the 240 s
required to evaporate 95% of the water from the
product.
The range of stirring velocities (3.1 to 7.3 rad/s) had
little effect on the oil bath temperature decrease when
the product was immersed in the fat. Stirring only had
a significant effect at the 1% level for WL.
A wide experimental domain was used for the experi-
mental design since, to our knowledge, this is the first
time a systematic study on the effects of process
variables on mass and heat transfer has been carried
out with plantain. The design seemed to be off-centred
with respect to WL, FG, En and product colour because
the processing time of 600 s was too high.
The interesting processing range was between 120 and
240 s, when mass and heat transfer differ markedly
according to the length of the processing times used
(27,28). However, it would be difficult to design an all-
purpose model that would be valid for these two
extreme zones. In fact, the differences could be
explained by crust formation (29) that could occur
under some processing conditions. When a crust forms
rapidly, at high temperatures for instance, mass and
heat transfer are slowed down.
Moreover, even with low standard deviations at the
centre point, the results have to be interpreted with
caution because the errors would certainly differ at
short processing times. The standard deviation of the
1/10 mass ratio kinetics was about 3% for WL after
120 s of processing; this result was also obtained for a
1/40 ratio after 30 s of processing. The experimental
validation also revealed positive standard deviations of
about 5% for WL, particularly for trials with frying
times shorter than at the centre point of the experi-
mental design.
The experimental design used in this study, despite its
limitations, highlighted important trends concerning
the response variables (water loss, fat gain, temperature
decreases and energy loss) when plotted against tem-
perature, time and stirring velocity.
Processing time and oil bath temperature had a
substantial effect on WL, whereas only time influenced
FG. The decreased WL at high temperatures (above
170 °C), at long processing times, could be explained by
the rapid formation of a crust which consequently
hindered mass transfer.
At temperatures above 140 °C, there was a tem-
perature-dependent decrease in En0 at a given process-
ing time. This indicated that processing could be
conducted in this higher temperature zone without
necessarily increasing energy consumption in the light
of the colour change in the plantain chips.
Nomenclature
ai Linear effect
aii Quadratic effect
aij Between-factor effects
En Cumulative energy consumption (kJ)

496

Eno Energy consumption/kg evaporated water (kJ/
kg)
FC Fat content (g/100g fried product)
FCf Final fat content (g/100g fried product)
FCi Initial fat content (g/100g initial product)
FG Fat gain (g/100g initial product)
mf Final mass (g)
mi Initial mass of plantain slice (g)
R Plantain slice/fat mass ratio
tf Time of removal of plantain from oil bath (s)
ti Time of immersion of plantain in oil bath (s)
T Oil bath temperature (°C)
To Minimum temperature of oil bath after decrease
at beginning of processing (°C)
∆T Relative decrease in oil bath temperature (°C)
TFi Processing temperature (°C)
wa Stirring velocity (rad/s)
WC Water content (g/100g fried product)
WCf Final water content (g/100g fried product)
WCi Initial water content (g/100g initial product)
WL Water loss (g/100g initial product)
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