Define the term Hot water blanching?
A appropriate water-blanching process in traditional processing is as follows:
- The sliced material is placed on a square piece of clean cloth; the corners of the cloth are tied together;
- A stick is put through the tied corners of the cloth;
- The cloth is dipped into a pan containing boiling water and the stick rests across the top of the pan thus providing support for the cloth bag.
The average blanching time is 6 minutes. The begin of blanching has to be timed from the moment the water starts to boil again after the cloth bag has been dipped into the pan. when the material is being blanched the cloth bag should be increased and lowered in the water so that the material is heated evenly. While the blanching time is completed the cloth bag and its content should be dipped into cold water to avoid over-blanching. If products are over-blanched (boiled for too long) they will stick together on the drying trays and they are similarly to have a poor flavour.
Throughout hot water blanching, some soluble constituents- water-soluble flavours, vitamins (vitamin C) and sugars - are leached out. With potatoes this may be an benefit as inactivation of enzymes (catalase and peroxidase) makes the potatoes less prone to turning brown.