This study investigated the feasibility of using Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) to facilitate calcium infusion, with the aim to improve the hardness of blanched carrots. Moreover, this study explored the relationships between carrot hardness and in vitro β-carotene bioaccessibility, and between in vivo mastication effects and the in vitro β-carotene bioaccessibility of different individuals. Findings showed that calcium infusion facilitated by PEF treatment at an electric field strength of 1.9 kV/cm was effective in improving the hardness of blanched carrots by 57%, leading to similar level of hardness for carrots subjected to conventional overnight soaking in calcium chloride solution followed by moderate temperature precooking (60 °C, 30 min). PEF could shorten the calcium infusion to 12.12 ms and reduce the required calcium concentration to 300 ppm. Moreover, in vivo mastication of blanched carrots preserved by new and conventional approaches revealed that the hardness perception and in vitro β-carotene bioaccessibility of carrot samples were predominantly influenced by the differences in masticatory pattern between individuals. Overall, PEF would be a fast solution to enhance calcium infusion for preserving hardness of blanched carrots and the in vitro bioaccessibility of β-carotene was comparable between carrots with PEF-enhanced calcium infusion and conventional calcium infusion.

Industrial relevance

This study demonstrates the feasibility of using PEF to accelerate the infusion of calcium ions into carrot to preserve its hardness after blanching. It was found that overnight soaking of carrots with CaCl₂ could be shortened tremendously in which the passive diffusion of calcium ions into the carrot cells can occur instantaneously during PEF at a lower concentration of CaCl₂. Moreover, the application of a PEF-assisted calcium infusion pre-treatment can produce blanched carrots with similar hardness as those preserved with overnight calcium infusion followed by moderate temperature precooking at 60 °C for 30 min. This implies that PEF could replace the precooking step to achieve similar carrot hardness after blanching. More importantly, this study had gathered new information on how consumers perceived the hardness of blanched carrots preserved by PEF-assisted calcium infusion technique and on the bioaccessibility of carotenoids after an in vivo mastication to orally process the carrots.

中文翻译：

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脉冲电场增强了钙的注入，从而改善了变白的胡萝卜的硬度

这项研究调查了使用脉冲电场（PEF）促进钙注入的可行性，目的是提高变白的胡萝卜的硬度。此外，本研究探讨了胡萝卜硬度与体外β-胡萝卜素生物可及性之间的关系，以及体内咀嚼作用与体外之间的关系。不同个体的β-胡萝卜素生物可及性。结果表明，在电场强度为1.9 kV / cm的条件下，通过PEF处理促进的钙注入可有效地将变白的胡萝卜的硬度提高57％，从而使随后在氯化钙溶液中常规浸泡过夜的胡萝卜的硬度达到类似水平通过适度的温度预煮（60°C，30分钟）。PEF可以将钙的注入时间缩短到12.12 ms，并将所需的钙浓度降低到300 ppm。此外，通过新方法和传统方法保存的变色胡萝卜在体内的咀嚼表明，硬度感知和体外胡萝卜样品的β-胡萝卜素生物可及性主要受个体之间咀嚼模式差异的影响。总体而言，PEF将是增强钙注入以保持变色胡萝卜硬度的快速解决方案，并且在使用PEF增强钙注入的胡萝卜与常规钙注入的胡萝卜中，β-胡萝卜素的体外生物利用度可比。

行业相关性

这项研究证明了使用PEF加速胡萝卜中钙离子的浸泡以保持其变白后的硬度的可行性。已经发现，可以大大缩短胡萝卜用CaCl ₂浸泡的过夜时间，其中在PEF期间，当CaCl ₂浓度较低时，钙离子可以瞬间发生被动扩散到胡萝卜细胞中。。此外，使用PEF辅助钙浸液预处理可以生产与经过夜钙浸液然后在60°C进行30分钟的适度温度预煮后保存的硬度类似的变色胡萝卜。这意味着PEF可以代替预煮步骤，以在烫发后获得类似的胡萝卜硬度。更重要的是，这项研究收集了有关消费者如何感知通过PEF辅助钙注入技术保存的变色胡萝卜的硬度以及体内咀嚼胡萝卜加工后类胡萝卜素的生物可及性的新信息。