RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Carrots are widely used in home cooking and vegetable processing industries because of their high nutritional value. However, different processing methods may produce a negative impact on carrot texture and nutrition quality. Therefore, the development of better processing methods to preserve the texture and nutrition quality of carrots will be beneficial to the carrot industry. RESULTS: The effects of heat and pulsed electric field (PEF) treatments with different heat temperatures (T) and holding time (th ) on comprehensive changes in thermal efficiency profiles, and physicochemical (color, hardness, cell structural damage) and nutritional (releasable ß-carotene contents) properties of carrots were studied. In addition, electrical conductivity (σ) and soluble matter contents (°Brix) were determined for the heat-treated extracts. The value of total color difference (∆E) and cell structural damage index (Z) of carrots, σ and °Brix of extracts all increased with increasing T and th under different heat experimental conditions, whereas the value of cutting force (F) presented an opposite tendency and content of releasable ß-carotene decreased after th > 2 min at T = 100 °C. CONCLUSION: The results show that PEF heating is beneficial in preventing changes in physicochemical and nutritional properties of carrots compared to traditional heat treatment. PEF has potential as a heating technology in the food industry. © 2022 Society of Chemical Industry.