Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107

www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Characterization of product quality attributes of tortilla chips

during the frying process
Marie Louise Kawas a, Rosana G. Moreira b,*
a
Research and Development, Frito-Lay, Inc., Plano, TX-75024, USA
b
Department of Agricultural Engineering, Texas A & M University, 310 Scoates Hall, College Station, TX 77843-2117, USA
Received 3 March 2000; accepted 19 June 2000

Abstract
Characterization of product quality attributes (PQA) of tortilla chips during frying will provide critical information that can be
used to develop fundamental models to describe the structural changes of a fried product during frying. Tortilla chips were prepared
from nixtamalized dry-masa ¯our and fried in fresh vegetable oil for 60 s. The results indicated that most diameter shrinkages of
tortilla chips happened during the ®rst 5 s of frying. The chip's thickness increased as a result of crust formation and some bubbles
developed at the surface due to gas expansion. The chips become more porous (pore size increased in number and size). The pore size
distribution became more uniform (normal) as frying time increased. The chips became crunchier as moisture decreased during
frying. The combination of all these quality attributes is responsible for producting the best ®nal product as oil content is greatly
a€ected by the mechanism of structure formation thus resulting in the desired product texture. Fundamental properties such as
isotherms and glass transition temperatures were also evaluated. The Crapiste and Rotstein model provided the best correlation at
the entire range of moisture content and temperatures. The glass transition termperatures were ®tted using the Gordon and Taylor
equation. The glass transition curve for the fried chips with total oil content is higher than the one for the chips with partial oil
content. A model was developed using the extreme value distribution to predict the pore size distribution of tortilla chips during
frying. Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Pores; Texture; Shrinkage; Expansion; Properties

1. Introduction the dough. Many manufacturers use dry-masa ¯our, as

In the United States, the two most popular masa-
based snack products are tortilla chips and corn chips.
Corn chips are fried directly from masa and contain
more oil than tortilla chips. Tortilla chips are baked and
then fried, making them absorb less oil and have a
®rmer texture and a stronger alkaline ¯avor than corn
chips.
Nixtamalization is the process of cooking and steep-
ing corn in alkaline solution, and then washing it to
produce nixtamal. The nixtamal is stone-ground to form
a soft, moist dough called masa. Masa is then the raw
material used to make tortilla chips. Dry-masa ¯our is a
product made by drying and grinding the fresh masa
into ¯our. Dry-masa ¯our has a longer shelf life (around
1 yr) than fresh masa and requires only water to produce
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-979-847-8794; fax: +1-979-845-
3932.
E-mail address: rmoreira@tamu.edu (R.G. Moreira).
0260-8774/00/$ - see front matter Ó 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 2 6 0 - 8 7 7 4 ( 0 0 ) 0 0 1 0 4 - 7
opposed to fresh masa, as it does not require much labor
and equipment. However, fresh masa is less expensive
and has a richer alkaline ¯avor (Serna-Saldivar, Gomez,
& Rooney, 1990).
Tortilla chips vary in oil content from 21% to 34%
(w.b.) depending on corn variety, cooking processes,
grinding conditions, baking time, cooling time after
baking, and others (Lee, 1991).
Moreira, Palau, and Sun (1995) observed that
moisture loss and oil absorption rates were faster
during the ®rst 15 s of frying, and became constant as
frying continued; moisture loss rate increased as tem-
perature increased. The e€ect of temperature on oil
absorption was not signi®cant during the ®rst 15 s of
frying, although, the ®nal oil content was higher for
tortilla chips fried at 190 C than at 150 C for the some
frying time.
Moreira, Sun, and Chen (1997) measured the oil
content on the surface and at the core of tortilla chips to
determine the oil distribution during frying and cooling.
98 M.L. Kawas, R.G. Moreira / Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107

During frying, only 20% was absorbed by the chips, and 2.2.2. Oil content
80% remained on the chip's surface. During cooling, 2.2.2.1. Total oil content. The total oil content of tortilla
about 64% of the total oil content was absorbed by the chips was determined by using the Soxtec System HT
chips, and 36% remained on the chip's surface. (Pertorp, Silver Spring, Maryland) extraction with pe-
Oil content in fried foods has been related to initial troleum ether (AACC, 1986). The test was performed in
moisture content (Gamble, Rice, & Selman, 1987; triplicate.
Moreira, Palau, Sweat, & Sun, 1995), pre-frying treat-
ment (Gamble & Rice, 1987), structural changes during 2.2.2.2. Internal oil content. The oil content on the sur-
backing (Lee, 1991; McDonough, Gomez, Lee, Wan- face and at the core of tortilla chips was measured using
iska, & Rooney, 1993; Rock-Dubley, 1993), and cooling the approach described by Moreira et al. (1997). The test
time (Sun & Moreira, 1994). was performed in triplicate.
Understanding the oil distribution in tortilla chips is
imperative before trying to access good quality control. 2.3. Degree of shrinkage/expansion and puness
Changes in structure and texture of tortilla chips during
frying can greatly a€ect the mechanism of oil absorption The diameter, thickness, and pu€ height were mea-
during cooling (Moreira, Castell-Perez, & Barrufet, sured using a steel caliper (MG Tool Company, NY).
1999). Therefore, it is important to fully characterize About 20 readings were made for ®ve samples of each
tortilla chips during frying so that an accurate mathe- treatment.
matical model can be developed to predict quality The degree of diameter shrinkage …Si † was calculated
changes. The objectives of this study were to: by
· Characterize product quality attributes (PQA) such  
do ÿ d…t†
as, shrinkage/expansion, puness, texture, pore size dis- Si ˆ 100 …1†
tribution, and porosity of tortilla chips during frying. do
· Measure fundamental properties such as isotherms The degree of thickness expansion and puness …Ei † was
and glass transition. calculated by
· Develop a predictive model of pore size distribution  
d…t† ÿ do
during frying. Ei ˆ 100 …2†
do
where do is the original dimension of baked sample (mm)
and d…t† is the dimension of sample with frying time (mm).
2. Materials and methods

2.1. Sample preparation 2.4. Solid density

Tortilla chips were prepared from nixtamalized dry
masa ¯our (NDMF) for tortilla chips (tortilla chip 1Y,
Valley Grain Products, Muleshoe, TX). The procedure
is carefully detailed in Moreira et al. (1997). The tortillas
were fried in fresh vegetable oil for 60 s. Samples were
collected at 5, 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 s frying time
interval for testing. The dry-masa ¯our used to make
tortilla chips had a combination of 69% coarse particles
(amount of particles that did not pass a US #70 sieve),
21% intermediate (amount of particles that passed the
US #70 but not the US #100), and 10% ®ne (amount of
particles that passed a US #100 sieve).
2.2. Sample analysis
2.2.1. Moisture content
Tortilla chip samples were ground in a co€ee grinder
(Braun, Model KSM2) after frying. The moisture con-
tent of tortilla chips was determined by weight loss after
drying 5 g samples in a forced air oven at 103±105 C
(AACC, 1986) for 24 h. The test was performed in
triplicate.
To obtain the solid volume of tortilla chips, the pre-
weighed samples were ground using a co€ee grinder
(Braun, Model KSM2) and placed in a compressed he-
lium gas multi-pycnometer (Quantachrome & Trade,
3
NY). Solid density, qs …kg=m †, was determined by di-
viding the weight of the sample by its solid volume. The
test was performed in triplicate.
2.5. Bulk density
The bulk volume was measured using the liquid dis-
placement technique with toluene (Wang & Brennan,
1995; Lozano, Rotstein, & Urbicain, 1983). Bulk den-
sity, qb …kg=m3 †, was then determined by dividing the
weight of the chip by its bulk volume. The test was
performed in triplicate.
2.6. Porosity
Porosity, /, was calculated as
q
/ˆ1ÿ b …3†
qs
 M.L. Kawas, R.G. Moreira / Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107
2.7. Pore size distribution
Three tortilla chip samples were analyzed for every
treament. Each tortilla chip sample was broken into nine
pieces (10 mm L  7 mm W) for which three photomi-
crographs were taken in di€erent regions to have a good
representation of the treatement. The small pieces were
mounted on aluminum stubs with conductive adhesive
and viewed with no further sample preparation in an
Electroscan Model E-3 ESEM (Electroscan, Wilming-
ton, MA) with an accelerating voltage of 15 kV. The
area and perimeter of the pores were analyzed by an
image analysis software called Scion Image (National
Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD). Pore size distri-
bution histograms were developed to compare the dif-
ferent treatments.
2.8. Texture
The texture of the tortilla chips was evaluated with a
texture analyzerTM (TA-XT2, Texture Technology, NY)
using a 6.325 mm diameter ball probe and an 18 mm
diameter hollow cylindrical base. The probe traveled at
a velocity of 0.1 mm/s until it cracked the sample; the
lowest possible speed that the probe could travel was
chosen to get a very jagged curve and to be able to
measure crunchiness. About 20 ¯at chips from each
treatment were tested.
2.8.1. Crunchines
The crunchiness of tortilla chips fried at di€erent
times was measured from the jaggedness or ``noise'' of
the sample. The maximum distance traveled by the
probe for each sample was recorded, and the data for
each sample was saved for further analysis. The force
column of each ®ltered data ®le was copied into a text
®le and then run with the program to obtain the fractal
Kolmogorov dimension of the mechanical signature.
The Kolmogorov dimension is called the ``box count-
ing'' dimension as a grid of squares is placed over the
boundary or the line pro®le and the number of squares
through which any part of the line passes is counted.
This process is repeated with di€erent grids having dif-
ferent size squares, and the number of squares that
passed the pro®le was plotted vs the length of the side of
the square on a log±log scale (Russ, 1994).
2.9. Fundamental properties models
2.9.1. Isotherms
Desorption isotherms were determined as a function
of moisture content, temperature, and oil content.
2.9.1.1. Sample preparation. Raw tortillas initially con-
taining 54% (w.b.) of moisture content were dried at
45  1 C in the UOP8 Tray Drier (Arm®eld , Hamphire,
99
England) at an air¯ow rate of 1.2 m/s. The samples were
dried at 10 min intervals up to 240 min when approxi-
mately 2% (w.b.) moisture content was reached. Water
activity was measured out using the Rotronic Hygro-
skop DT (Model DT-2, Rotronic Instrument , NY)
coupled to a Rotronic Measurement Station (Model
WA-40TH, Rotronic Instrument, NY) for the mea-
surement of equilibrium relative humidity following the
method described in Crapiste and Rotstein (1982).
Moisture content was determined by the forced air oven
method (AACC, 1986) previously explained in Section
2.2.1. Isotherms were obtained at 25 C, 48.8 C, and
68.8 C. Temperature was kept constant using a water
bath (Model K4R, Brinkman Instruments, Germany).
The system was calibrated with di€erent salt solutions.
To analyze the e€ect of total oil content on the iso-
therms, control tortilla chips were prepared as described
in Section 2.1. The e€ect of partial oil content (internal
oil) was analyzed by frying control tortillas for 60 s and
dipping them immediately in petroleum ether for 1 s to
remove the surface oil. Water activity was measured
three times per sample and isotherms were evaluated as
described above.
Di€erent isotherm (desorption equilibrium) models
were evaluated to ®t the experimental data and to select
the best curve ®t. The models tested are shown in
Table 1. Non-linear regression was performed using the
Levenberg±Marquardt iteration method with the
graphics software package called PlotIt (version 3.1,
1994, Scienti®c Programming Enterprises).
2.9.2. Glass transition temperature (Tg )
Tg was determined as a function of moisture content
and oil content.
2.9.2.1. Sample preparation. To analyze the e€ect of
moisture content on glass transition temperature, torti-
lla samples with di€erent moisture contents were pre-
pared as described in Section 2.9.1.1. One-g of each
sample was placed into stainless steel aluminum DSC
pans (Model 319-1536, Perkin Elmer). The samples were
scanned from ÿ100 C to 140 C at a heating and cooling
rate of 10 C= min, a cooling rate of 40 C/min, and a
DSC operating range of 5 mcal/s. The test was per-
formed 20 times. The experimental data was modeled
using the Gordon± Taylor equation (Roos, Karel, &
Kokini, 1996)
w1 Tg1 ‡ kw2 Tg2
Tg ˆ …4†
w1 ‡ kw2
where Tg is the glass transition temperature (K), w the
weight fraction, k is the empirical constant, and sub-
scripts 1 and 2 represent water and solids, respectively.
Applications of the Gordon±Taylor equation to pre-
dict water plasticization requires determination of the
100 M.L. Kawas, R.G. Moreira / Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107

Table 1
Characteristic parameters and coecients of determination of the models selected to predict the desorption isotherm data of masa samples dried for
240 min in a tray-dryer and tortilla chips with total and partial oil contentsa

Model Equation k1 k2 k3 k4 R2
 
Crapiste and Rotstein 1 1 2427.26 364.14 0.32 12.38 0.97
ln…U† ˆ ÿk1 ÿ M ÿk3 exp…ÿk4 M†
(1986) T k2

Crapiste and Rotstein   8 480 0.32 21.21 0.98

1 1
(total oil chips) ln…U† ˆ ÿk1 ÿ M ÿk3 exp…ÿk4 M†
T k2
Crapiste and Rotstein   9 500 0.33 20.11 0.98
1 1
(partial oil chips) ln…U† ˆ ÿk1 ÿ M ÿk3 exp…ÿk4 M†
T k2
Pfost, Maurer, Chung,   4.8 17.91 ± 0.80
K1 7  10ÿ7
and Milliken (1976) ln…U† ˆ ÿk1 exp…ÿk3 M†
R…T ‡ k2 †
Thompson (1972) 0.03 68 0.95 ± 0.94
ln…1 ÿ U† ˆ ÿk1 …T ‡ k2 †M k3
Chund and Pfost k1 8 105 000 17.91 ± ± 0.86
(1967) ln U ˆ ÿ exp…ÿk2 M†
RT
Hederson (1952) 0.00045 0.94 ± ± 0.87
1 ÿ U ˆ exp‰ÿk1 T …100M†k2 Š
Smith (1947) 0.001928 exp(250.100/RT) ± ± 0.94
M ˆ k1 ÿ k2 In…1 ÿ U†
 
Harkins and Jura k2
ln U ˆ k1 ÿ exp()18.000/RT) 0.0033 ± ± 0.90
(1944) M2
a
M ˆ moisture content (decimal d.b.); U ˆ water activity; T ˆ temperature (K); R ˆ gas constant (8.312 kJ/kg K); k1 ; k2 ; k3 ; k4 ˆ parameters:

empirical constant, k. The glass transition temperature 3. Discussion

for amorphous water is often ÿ135 C based on the data
of various studies (Roos, 1992).
To analyze the e€ect of total and partial oil contents
on the glass transition temperature, tortilla chips were
fried for 60 s at 190 C. The e€ect of partial oil content
(internal oil) was analyzed by frying control tortillas for
60 s and dipping them immediately in petroleum ether
for 1 s to remove the surface oil. The tortilla chips were
ground using a co€ee grinder to obtain powder samples.
One-g samples were placed into stainless steel alumini-
um DSC pans (Model 319-1536, Perkin Elmer) and
scanned as described above. The test was performed 20
times. The experimental data was modeled using the
Gordon±Taylor equation.
2.10. Data analysis
The data was interpreted by Duncan's multiple
comparison test using SPSS software (Base 8.0, SPSS
1998). Statistical signi®cance was expressed at the
P < 0:05 level. Experimental pore size distribution dur-
ing frying was determined by the test of contrasts across
group means. The experiments were performed at least
in triplicate. Desorption isotherm models were corre-
lated using non-linear regression with the Levenberg±
Marquardt iteration method.
3.1. E€ect of frying time on the product quality attributes
(PQA) of tortilla chips
The tortilla chips prepared in this study had an initial
and ®nal moisture contents of about 42:0  0:2% (w.b.)
and 2:0  0:1% (w.b.), respectively. The total ®nal oil
content, after 60 s of frying was 23:6  0:1% (w.b.).
These chips absorbed about 9:5  0:2% (w.b.) oil during
frying reaching about 17:6  02:% (w.b.) during cooling.
About 34% of the total oil content (i.e., 9:5  0:2% w.b.)
was absorbed by the chips during frying, and about 69%
of the total oil (i.e., 17:6  0:2% w.b.) was the internal
oil content after cooling. The rest (8.9% w.b) was oil that
remained at the chip's surface.
Fig. 1 shows the e€ect of frying time on the di-
mensional changes of tortilla chips. The diameter of
tortilla chips decreased once the chips were immersed
in oil. After 5 s of frying, the diameter continued to
decrease but at a slow rate. The chips' thickness did
not change for the ®rst 30 s and then increased by
only 10% and remained the same until the end of
frying. The chips' puness increased to 72% during
the ®rst 20 s of frying, and continued to increase until
it reached 100% after 60 s of frying. As water evap-
orated at a faster rate during the ®rst 10 s of frying,
 M.L. Kawas, R.G. Moreira / Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107 101

Table 2
Bulk density, solid density, and porosity of control tortilla chips during
frying (60 s at 190 C in fresh soybean oil)a

Frying Bulk density Solid density Porosity

time (s) …kg=m3 † …kg=m3 †

0 880  70 1300  20 0:32  0:01

5 870  70 1270  30 0:30  0:02
10 790  90 1280  20 0:37  0:02
20 650  50 1290  20 0:49  0:02
30 540  70 1310  20 0:58  0:02
40 520  90 1280  10 0:59  0:01
50 540  70 1300  10 0:58  0:03
60 580  60 1300  20 0:55  0:03
a
Tests were performed in triplicate.
Fig. 1. Degree of shrinkage/expansion (diameter/thickness) and pu-
ness of the conrtol tortilla chips during frying for 60 s in fresh soybean
oil at 190 C.
The e€ect of frying time on the densities and porosity
of tortilla chips is presented in Table 2. The solid density
the material shrunk the most. As the crust was did not change signi®cantly during frying. The bulk
formed, the chips' thickness increased and bubbles at density decreased from 880 to 580 kg/m3 after 60 s of
the surface due to the barrier created by the tight frying. The bulk density decreased as the volume of the
surface which resulted in vapor expansion inside the chips increased due to an increase in puness during
chips' pores. frying. Porosity increased from 0.32 to 0.55 during fry-

Fig. 2. ESEM pictures of tortilla chip during frying.

102 M.L. Kawas, R.G. Moreira / Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107

ing. The bulk density decreased as the solid density re-
mained the same and the chips became more porous as
they lost water during frying.
Fig. 2 shows the ESEM micrographs of a tortilla
chip during frying. The baked tortillas showed many
small pores randomly distributed and very few large
pores around a partially gelatinized starch matrix.
After 5 s of frying, the tortilla chips' microstructure
shows that the starch matrix became smoother con-
taining a very small amount of randomly distributed
pores. After 10 s of frying, there were more pores with
irregular shapes and the crust began to form at the
chips' edges. After 20 s of frying, a large amount of
small round and a few elongated pores are seen, where
the crust is increasing in thickness showing small round
pores. After 30 s of frying, the small and large pores
increased in size and started to change to an oval
shape. After 40 s of frying, the oval- shaped pores at
the core of the chips became larger as the cell walls
collapsed; the crust becomes larger with many small
pores. After 50 s of frying, the pores continued to in-
crease in number, and then at 60 s of frying, the entire
structure was ®lled with pores of all sizes with little
starch matrix around them.
The e€ect of frying time on the chips' pore size dis-
tribution is shown in Fig. 3. The baked tortillas had
about 60% pores with 38 lm in diameter. About 22%
had a diameter of 63 lm, and the rest were in the range
of 88 and 138 lm in diameter. Between 5 and 20 s of
frying, the range of pore size distribution was the same,
but the amount of pores of a certain size di€ered. After
5 s of frying, the fraction of pores was about, 0.20, 0.30,
0.20, 0.12 with 38, 63, 88, 113 lm in diameter, respec-
tively; the rest were in the range of 138±213 lm. After

Fig. 3. Pore size distribution in a tortilla chip during frying.

 M.L. Kawas, R.G. Moreira / Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107 103

Fig. 4. E€ect of frying time on Kolmogorov dimension of tortilla chips Fig. 5. Predicated equilibrium moisture content data for masa at dif-
fried for 60 s in fresh soybean oil at 190 C. ferent temperatures using the Crapiste and Rotstein model.

50 and 60 s frying, the pore size distribution looked like

a normal distribution with a large amount of pores
around 88 and 113 lm. The chips that were fried for 60 s
showed a greater amount of large pores than the chips
fried for 50 s.
The e€ect of frying time on the crunchiness of tor-
tilla chips is shown in Fig. 4. The level of jaggedness
was related to the crunchiness of the tortilla chips
during frying (Tesch, Normand, & Peleg, 1996; Harris
& Peleg, 1996). The baked tortillas had a Kolmogorov
dimension of 1.06, which increased continuously with
frying time up to a value of 1.25 at the end of frying.
The chips became crunchier as the moisture decreased,
the porosity increased, and the pore size distribution
increased. Fig. 6. Predicated equilibrium moisture content data for tortilla chips
In conclusion, it can be said that the changes in the with total oil at di€erent temperatures using the Crapiste and Rotstein
product structure, porosity, degree of diameter shrink- model.
age, thickness expansion, puness, and texture are all
related to moisture loss and oil absorption during the
frying process (including cooling).

3.2. Fundamental properties of tortilla chips

3.2.1. Isotherms
Water activity …U† for tortilla chips was measured
and isotherms at di€erent temperatures were developed.
The characteristic parameters for the models used to ®t
the experimental data and corresponding coecients of
determination at the three temperatures are shown in
Table 1.
In general, the Crapiste & Rotstein model showed the
best correlation (0.97) over the entire range of equilib-
rium moisture contents and temperatures, followed by
the Thompson (0.94) and Smith (0.94) models. Fig. 5 Fig. 7. Predicated equilibrium moisture content data for tortilla chips
shows the e€ect of temperature on the desorption iso- with partial oil at di€erent temperatures using the Crapiste and Rot-
therm of masa. stein model.
104 M.L. Kawas, R.G. Moreira / Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107

Figs. 6 and 7 show the e€ect on the desorption

isotherm for tortilla chips with total and partial oil
contents (internal oil content) as predicted by the
Crapiste & Rotstein model, respectively. The equilib-
rium moisture content decreased as temperature in-
creased for the same water activity value. At very high
water activities, moisture content at the three temper-
atures changed very little. This behavior may be at-
tributed to the e€ect of temperature on the solubility
of starch. In addition, as the moisture content de-
creases with increasing temperature, the enthalpy of
vaporization is also expected to increase. For the same
water activity value, the equilibrium moisture content
decreaed as the amount of oil increased in the tortilla
chips.
Fig. 8. Glass transition temperature form masa.

3.2.2. Glass transition temperature, Tg

The glass transition temperature …Tg † of raw tortilla
and tortilla chips with total and partial oil at di€erent
moisture contents was measured to help understand
their physicochemical behavior, i.e., the textural
changes. The glass transition is a physical change that is
promoted by the addition of heat and/or the uptake of
water. The characteristic temperature, Tg , is an impor-
tant parameter that can determine processability,
product properties, quality, stability, and safety of food
systems. In raw tortillas and tortilla chips, the starch is
in an amorphous metastable state which is very sensitive
to changes in temperature and moisture content. When
the raw tortilla or the tortilla chips are exposed to at-
mospheric temperature and humidity, structural
changes occur. The most important change is noticed at
the Tg , which involves transition from the solid ``glassy'' Fig. 9. Glass transition temperature for tortilla chips with total and
to a liquid-like ``rubbery'' state. partial oil fried for 60 s in fresh soybean oil at 190 C.
Figs. 8 and 9 illustrate the Tg curves for raw tortilla
and tortilla chips, respectively, obtained by applying
the Gordon±Taylor equation (Eq. 4). The k values The Tg of foods is related to water content, so tem-
obtained experimentally were equal to 5.2. The drastic perature and mositure limits for product stability can be
decrease of the Tg is a result of water plasticizing the approximated from state diagrams. For mositure con-
amorphous structure. The Tg of corn starch is 387 C, tents lower than 20% (w.b.), the tortilla chips with total
and that of water is reported to be ÿ135 C (Roos, and partial oil contents must be stored at lower tem-
1992), which are the upper and lower ends of the Tg peratures than the masa to remain in the glassy state. In
curve in Fig. 8. If raw tortilla and chips with total and partially crystalline polymers, water plasticization oc-
partial oil (Figs. 8 and 9) are stored at a temperature curs only in the amorphous regions. The dehumidi®ca-
below the Tg , then the products will be in a rigid glassy tion of starch proceeds more readily from initially
state with a high viscosity where there is no molecular mobile amorphous regions leding to non-uniform
mobility and di€usion occuring making the products moisture distribution (van den Berg & Bruin, 1978).
stable for extended time periods. If the ambient tem- When comparing fried chips with masa, water plastici-
perature is above the Tg , then the glassy products will zation occurred more easily for the fried chips resulting
soften or become rubbery, and decrease in viscosity in a lower Tg . This is because the chips dried faster
and increase in molecular mobility. This may result in during frying as they had previously formed amorphous
physical and physicochemical deteriorations of the raw regions during baking; these amorphous regions were
tortilla and chips. For example, the rate of deteriora- plasticized by water resulting in a lower Tg . For moisture
tive reactions will be accelerated if raw tortillas with a contents greater than 20% (w.b.), the masa must be
moisture content of 22% (w.b.) is stored at a temper- stored in lower temperatures than the tortilla chips with
ature higher than 25 C. total or partial oil content.
 M.L. Kawas, R.G. Moreira / Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107 105

It is interesting to note that the glass transition ferent frying times was normalized by dividing into the
curve for the fried chips with total oil content is higher largest pore diameter (263 lm). This data was used to ®t
than the one for the partial oil content chips (Fig. 9). the di€erent distributions using @RISK software (Pali-
This is presumably because water plasticizes hydro- sade Corporation, New Field, NY). Among the distri-
philic food components (Karel, 1985) and, even though butions used were the extreme value, logistic, lognorm,
both treatments of chips had the same amount of
moisture content, water was able to reach the starch of
the chips with partial oil content more easily resulting
in a lower Tg . In addition, previous studies have shown
that the addition of lipids in starch can inhibit the
starch gelatinization process (Eliasson, 1992). The in-
hibition of starch gelatinization due to the addition of
lipids may be related to the glass transition of food
components, which would explain why glass transition
occurs more readily for the chips with partial oil con-
tent.

3.3. Pore size distribution

A prediction model for pore size distribution of tor- Fig. 10. Pore size distribution parameters a and b of tortilla chips fried
tilla chips as a function of frying time was generated. for 60 s in fresh soybean oil at 190 C using the extreme value distri-
The pore diameter distribution of tortilla chips at dif- bution.

Fig. 11. Predicted pore size distribution using extreme value distribution for tortilla chips during frying.
106 M.L. Kawas, R.G. Moreira / Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107
lognorm II, Pearson V, Pearson VI, Weibull, and
Rayleigh. The extreme value distribution was selected
as it best ®ts the experimental data at the entire range
of frying time . The distribution characteristic param-
eters a and b were gathered to be able to construct a
predictive model of the pore size distributions of tor-
tilla chips. The parameter a describes the mode of
distribution, and b determines the variance (r) of dis-
tribution as follows:
b2 p2
r: : …5†
6 0.97. The Crapiste & Rotstein model also ®t the experi-
The changes of parameters a and b with frying time
are shown in Fig. 10. The following polynomial equa-
tions were used to predict a and b as a function of frying
time:
a…t† ˆ ÿ 4  10ÿ7 t4 ‡ 5  10ÿ5 t3 ÿ 0:002t2 ‡ 0:0262t
‡ 0:1632; R2 ˆ 0:98;
b…t† ˆ ÿ 3  10ÿ7 t4 ‡ 4  10ÿ5 t3 ÿ 0:0013t2 ‡ 0:0164t
‡ 0:0837; R2 ˆ 0:99: …
The distribution curve of the extreme value distribution
was represented as follows:
  
xÿa
F …x† ˆ exp ÿ exp ÿ : …8†
b…t†
The derivative of Eq. (8) was calculated to obtain the
density of the distribution
   
1 x ÿ a…t†
f …x† ˆ exp ÿ
b…t† b…t†
  
x ÿ a…t†
 exp ÿ exp ÿ ; …9†
b…t†
where F …x† is the distribution, f …x† the density, x the
pore size, lm; a…t† the mode as a function of time, t,
b…t† is the variance determinator as a function of time,
t. Fig. 11 shows the predicted pore size distribution of
tortilla chips for 10 and 60 s of frying. The prediction
model based on the extreme value distribution esti-
mated the pore size distribution of tortilla chips during
frying time very well. The pore size distribution in-
creases with frying time and the distribution curves
become more evenly distributed, and therefore are
more normal.
4. Conclusions
Tortilla chips decreased in diameter by about 9%,
expand in thickness by 10%, and pu€ by 100% by the
end of frying. The chips become more porous by the end
of frying due to the decrease in bulk density caused by
the water loss during frying. As frying time increases,
the amount of large pores increases ®lling out the entire
chips' structure in a normal distribution. Tortilla chips
become harder up to 30 s of frying, and then crunchy
until the end of frying. The chips' crunchiness increases
during frying.
Masa and tortilla chips with total and partial oil
contents showed a desorption isotherm where moisture
content increases slowly at low water activities and sud-
denly rises at high water activities. The model that best
®ts the experimental data of masa on the entire range of
equilibrium moisture content and temperatures was the
Crapiste & Rotstein with a coecient of determination
mental data of the tortilla chips with total and partial oil
contents well. Furthermore, equilibrium moisture con-
tent decreased as temperature increased for the same
water activity. For the same water activity value, the
equilibrium moisture content of tortilla chips with partial
oil was higher than that of the chips with total oil content.
For moisture contents lower than 20% (w.b.), the
tortilla chips with total and partial oil contents must be
stored at lower temperatures than the masa to remain in
7† the glassy state. For moisture contents greater than 20%
(w.b.), the raw tortilla must be stored at lower temper-
atures than the tortilla chips with total or partial oil
content.
The extreme value distribution can be used to predict
the pore diameter distribution of tortilla chips during
the entire range of frying time.
References
AACC, (1986). Approved methods of the American Association of
Cereal Chemists. MN: American Association of Cereal Chemists.
Chung, D. S., & Pfost, H. B. (1967). Adsorption and desorption of
water vapor by cereal grains and their products. Transactions of the
American Society of Agricultural Engineers, 10, 549.
Crapiste, G. H., & Rotstein, E. (1982). Prediction of sorptional
equilibrium data for starch-containing foodstu€s. Journal of Food
Science, 47, 1501±1507.
Crapiste, G. H., & Rotstein, E. (1986). Sorptional equilibrium
at changing temperatures. In A. S. Mujumdar, 41. New York:
Wiley .
Eliasson, A. C. (1992). A calorimetric investigation of the in¯uence of
sucrose on the gelatinization of starch. Carbohydrate Polymers., 18,
131±138.
Gamble, M. H., & Rice, P. (1987). E€ect of pre-fry drying on oil
uptake and distribution in potato chip manufacture. International
Journal of Food Science and Technology, 22, 535±548.
Gamble, M. H., Rice, P., & Selman, J. D. (1987). Relationship between
oil uptake and moisture loss during frying of potato slices from UK
tubers. International Journal Food Science and Technology, 22, 233±
241.
Harkins, W. D., & Jura, G. (1944). A vapor adsorption method
for determination of the area of a solid without assumption of
a molecular area. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 66,
1366.
Harris, M., & Peleg, M. (1996). Patterns of textural changes in britlle
cellular cereal foods caused by moisture sorption. Cereal Chemis-
try, 73(2), 225±230.
 M.L. Kawas, R.G. Moreira / Journal of Food Engineering 47 (2001) 97±107
Hederson, S. M. (1952). A basic concept of equilibrium moisture.
Agricultural Engineering, 33, 29.
Karel, M. (1985). E€ects of water activity and water content on
mobility of food components, and their e€ects on phase transitions
in food systems. In D. Simatos, & J. L. Multon, Properties of water
in foods, vol. 153. Holland: Matinus Nijho€.
Lee, J. K. (1991). E€ect of processing conditions and maize varieties on
physicochemical characteristics of tortilla chips. Ph.D. dissertation,
Texas A & M University, College Station.
Lozano, J. E., Rotstein, E., & Urbicain, M. J. (1983).
Shrinkage, porosity, and bulk density of foodstu€s at chang-
ing moisture content. Journal of Food Science, 48 (5), 1497±1502,
1553.
McDonough, C., Gomez, M. H., Lee, J. K., Waniska, R. D., &
Rooney, L. W. (1993). Microstructure during deep-fat frying.
Journal of Food Science, 58, 199±203.
Moreira, R. G., Castell-Perez, M. E., & Barrufet, M. (1999). In Deep-
fat frying. MD: Aspen Publishers.
Moreira, R. G., Palau, J., & Sun, X. (1995). Simultaneous heat and
and mass transfer during the deep fat frying of tortilla chips.
Journal of Food Process Engineering, 18, 307±320.
Moreira, R. G., Sun, X., & Chen, Y. (1997). Factors a€ecting oil
uptake in tortilla chips in deep-fat frying. Journal of Food
Engineering, 31(4), 485±498.
Moreira, R. G., Palau, J., Sweat, V., & Sun, X. (1995). Thermal
and physical properties of tortilla chips as a function of fry-
ing time. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, 19, 175±
189.
Pfost, H. B., Maurer, S. G., Chung, D. S., & Milliken, G. A. (1976).
Summarizing and reporting equilibrium moisture data for grains.
ASAE Meeting. St. Joseph, MI.
107
Rock-Dudley, P. (1993). The e€ect of processing parameters on oil
content of corn tortilla chips. MS. thesis, Texas A & M University,
College Station.
Roos, Y. (1992). Phase transitions and transformations in food
systems. In D. Heldman, & D. Lund, Handbook of Food
Engineering, vol. 145. NY: Marcel Dekker.
Roos, Y. H., Karel, M., & Kokini, J. L. (1996). Glass transitions in
low moisture frozen foods. Food Technology, 50(11), 95±108.
Russ, J. C. (1994). Fractal surfaces. NY: Plenum Press.
Serna-Saldivar, S. O., Gomez, M. H., & Rooney, L. W. (1990).
Technology, chemistry, and nutritional value of alkaline-cooked
corn products. In Y. Pomeranz, Advances in cereal science and
technology, vol. 243. MN: AACC.
Smith, S. E. (1947). The sorption of water vapor by high polymers.
Journal of the Americal Chemical Society, 69, 646.
Sun, X., & Moreira, R. G. (1994). Oil distribution in tortilla chips
during deep-fat frying. ASAE Meeting. St. Joseph, MI.
Tesch, R., Normand, M. D., & Peleg, M. (1996). Comparison of the
acoustic and mechanical signatures of two cellular crunchy cereal
foods at various water activity levels. Journal of Food Science, 70,
347±354.
Thompson, T. L. (1972). Temporary storage of high-moisture shelled
corn using continuous aeration. Transactions of the American
Society of Agricultural Engineers, 15, 333.
van den Berg, C., & Bruin, S. (1978). Water activity and its estimation
in food systems: Theoretical aspects. In L. Rocklandm & G.
Stewart, Water activity: in¯uence on food quality, vol. 1. NY:
Academic Press.
Wang, N., & Brennan, J. C. (1995). Changes in structure density and
porosity of potato during dehydration. Journal of Food Engineer-
ing, 24, 61±76.