Blanching

Blanching
• Blanching is a thermal treatment that is usually performed
prior to food processes such as drying, freezing, frying, and
canning.
• It is essential to preserve the product quality during the long -
term storage because it inactivates the enzymes and destroys
microorganisms that might contaminate raw vegetables and
fruits during production, harvesting and transportation.
• It is done by heating and cooling for certain duration.
• The time required for blanching a product depends on the time
required for inactivation of peroxidase and polyphenoloxidase
enzymes.

Source: Xiao, H. W., Pan, Z., Deng, L. Z., El-Mashad, H. M., Yang, X. H., Mujumdar, A. S., ... & Zhang, Q. (2017). Recent
developments and trends in thermal blanching–A comprehensive review. Information processing in agriculture, 4(2), 101-127.
Purpose of Blanching
• Inactivation of quality deterioration enzymes (off-flavors, odors,
undesirable color and texture, and breakdown of nutrients)
• Enhancing dehydration rates and product quality
• Removing pesticide residues and toxic constituents
• Expelling air from plant tissues
• Minimizing non-enzymatic browning reactions
• Decreasing microbial load
• Peeling of products
• Increasing extraction efficiency of bioactive compounds
• Oil uptake reduction during frying

Source: Xiao, H. W., Pan, Z., Deng, L. Z., El-Mashad, H. M., Yang, X. H., Mujumdar, A. S., ... & Zhang, Q. (2017). Recent
developments and trends in thermal blanching–A comprehensive review. Information processing in agriculture, 4(2), 101-127.
Purpose
Source: Xiao, H. W., Pan, Z., Deng, L. Z., El-Mashad, H. M., Yang, X. H., Mujumdar, A. S., ... & Zhang, Q. (2017). Recent
developments and trends in thermal blanching–A comprehensive review. Information processing in agriculture, 4(2), 101-127.
Assessment of the
effectiveness
• Activity of peroxidase (POD) and polyphenol oxidase
(PPO) enzymes
• Ascorbic acid as an indicator to evaluate nutrients loss
during blanching
• Color as an indicator of product quality change during
blanching
• Texture as indicator of the effect of blanching on
product physical properties

Source: Xiao, H. W., Pan, Z., Deng, L. Z., El-Mashad, H. M., Yang, X. H., Mujumdar, A. S., ... & Zhang, Q. (2017). Recent
developments and trends in thermal blanching–A comprehensive review. Information processing in agriculture, 4(2), 101-127.
Source: Xiao, H. W., Pan, Z., Deng, L. Z., El-Mashad, H. M., Yang, X. H., Mujumdar, A. S., ... & Zhang, Q. (2017). Recent
developments and trends in thermal blanching–A comprehensive review. Information processing in agriculture, 4(2), 101-127.
Factors
The factors which influence blanching time are:
• Type of fruit or vegetable
• Size of the pieces of food
• Blanching temperature
• Method of heating.

Source: Fellows, P. J. (2009). Food processing technology: principles and practice. Elsevier.
Equipment
• The two most widespread commercial methods of blanching
involve passing food through an atmosphere of saturated steam or a
bath of hot water.
• Both types of equipment are relatively simple and inexpensive.
• There have been substantial developments to blanchers in recent
years to reduce the energy consumption and also to reduce the loss
of soluble components of foods, which reduces the volume and
polluting potential of effluents and increases the yield of product
Equipment
Following parameters to be considered for equipment design
• Yield of food from blanching
• Losses on cooling (Weight loss, Leaching)
• Nutrient retention
• Volume of effluent
• Energy consumption
Steam blanchers vs Hot water blanchers
Effect on foods
• The heat received by a food during blanching inevitably causes some
changes to sensory and nutritional qualities.
• In general, the time–temperature combination used for blanching is a
compromise which ensures adequate enzyme inactivation but prevents
excessive softening and loss of flavour in the food
• Loss of nutrients
• Colour and flavour
• Texture
Emerging technologies for
blanching
High humidity air impingement blanching

• Combines the advantages of steam blanching

and impingement technologies
• Results in minimum solids loss, a uniform, rapid
and energy-efficient blanching process.
• In HHAIB jets of high-humidity hot air impinge
on the product surface at high velocity.
• Heat transfer coefficient of HHAIB at the initial
stage is about 1400 W/(m2∙K) at 14.4 m/s, 135
°C, and 35% as its velocity, temperature, and
relative humidity, respectively.
Microwave blanching
• Electromagnetic waves with wavelengths ranging from
1 mm to 1 m that have corresponding frequencies
ranging from 300 MHz to 300 GHz.
• Heated materials absorb microwave energy and
convert it into heat by dielectric heating effect.
• Molecular dipole rotation and agitation of charged
ions within a high-frequency alternating electric field.
• Internal resistance due rotating molecules produces
volumetric heating.
• Microwave heating has several advantages such as
volumetric heating, high heating rates and short
processing times.
• The amount of nutrients loss by leaching is
significantly reduced
Microwave blanching (Limitations)

• Moisture in vegetables may evaporate.

• High intensity microwave power may cause
cells folding and destruction of product
microstructure
• Penetration depth of microwave is limited
• Non-uniform heating
• Difficulties to precisely control blanching
temperature
Ohmic blanching
• Known as Joule heating, electrical resistance heating, or electro-heating.
• Food products are placed between two electrodes.
• Food products behave as an electrical resistance, in which heat is
generated and product temperature rapidly increases.
• The heat generated inside the food depends mainly on the current
induced and the electrical conductivity of the product
Ohmic heating has several advantages
• Fast and uniform heating
• Instant shutdown and no residual heat transfer after shut off of the
current
• Low operation costs
• High energy conversion efficiencies
• Less problems of surface fouling
Ohmic blanching
(Limitations)

• Difficulty in controlling the blanching temperature

• Generating Oxygen and Hydrogen
• Corrosion and erosion of electrodes
 Infrared blanching
• Infrared heating is generated by the electromagnetic radiation that falls
between the regions of visible light waves
(0.38–0.78 micrometer) and microwaves (1–1000 milli meter).
• Infrared radiation heat can propagate through both vacuum and atmosphere.
• It is absorbed by molecules of food components through the mechanism of
rotational-vibrational movements that produces heat.
• Infrared heaters can be classified into three regions: near infrared (NIR) with
wavelengths between 0.78 to 3 μm, mid infrared (MIR) with wavelengths
between 3 to 50 μm, and far infrared (FIR) with wavelengths between 50 to
1000 μm
• The higher the temperature, the shorter the wavelength
• Water, proteins, starches, and fats, which are the main components of food,
absorb far infrared energy better than near infrared energy
• The longer the wavelength of radiation, the deeper its penetration depth.
• Therefore, in food processing far infrared heating is frequently used
Infrared blanching
(Limitations)

• Surface deterioration due to surface overheating

• Non-uniform heating
• Low yields due to loss of water
• Oxidation
• Poor heat penetration
• Surface color degradation
Future trends
Future trends
• Investigations on products microstructure change during thermal blanching
• Development of new hybrid technologies for blanching
• Evaluation and enhancing the sustainability of thermal blanching using life cycle assessment (LCA)