Food Research International 40 (2007) 63–70

www.elsevier.com/locate/foodres

Characterization of crispness of French fries by fracture and

acoustic measurements, effect of pre-frying and final frying times
a,*
T. Sanz , C. Primo-Martı́n b, T. van Vliet b,c

a
Agrotechnology and Food Innovations (A&F), Wageningen University and Research Center (WUR), Bornsesteeg 59, Postbus 17,
6700 AA Wageningen, The Netherlands
b
Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences, Diedenweg 20, Postbus 557, 6700 AN Wageningen, The Netherlands
c
Wageningen University, Bomenweg 2, Postbus 8129, 6700 EW Wageningen, The Netherlands

Received 8 May 2006; accepted 30 July 2006

Abstract

The influence of pre-frying and final frying time on the crispness of French fries was evaluated by simultaneous analysis of the fracture
and acoustic properties during instrumental simulation of human chewing. The analysis of the frequency distribution of the force and
sound events corresponding to the crust of the French fry reflected an effect of both pre-frying and final frying time on instrumental
crispness. Up to 60 s pre-frying, an increase in the number and magnitude of force and sound events was found, which reflect an increase
in crispness. The increase in final frying time increased crispness, but it cannot counterbalance a lack of pre-frying. The moisture content
of the whole French fries cannot explained the effect of pre-frying on crispness. Conversely, the effect of pre-frying can be explained when
considering only the moisture content of the crust. Pre-frying may allow an easier loss of water from the crust during final frying, which
will enhance its crispness.
 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: French fries; Crispness; Texture; Fracture properties; Acoustic properties; Frying; Moisture

1. Introduction ties of the raw material as well as the processing conditions

French fries are the most popular potato product in
many countries because of their pleasant taste and texture.
The world production of fried, frozen potato products
exceeds 4500 million kg, of which French fries represent
about 86% (Stier, 2004). This potato product is made from
potato strips with a cross section of approximately
1 · 1 cm2 and length of 6–7 cm (Lesinska & Leszczynski,
1989). The quality of French fries depends on the proper-
*
Corresponding author. Present address: Instituto de Agroquı́mica y
Tecnologı́a de Alimentos, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientı́ficas,
Polı́gono La Coma s/n, 46980 Paterna, Valencia, Spain. Tel.: +34
963900022; fax: +34 963636301.
E-mail address: tesanz@iata.csic.es (T. Sanz).
during manufacturing (Lamberg, Hallstroem, & Olsson,
1990).
Basically the manufacturing process of French fries con-
sists of the following steps; firstly the raw potatoes are
washed, peeled and cut into strips of the desired thickness.
Next the potato strips are blanched in hot water in a two
steps procedure: short blanching at elevated temperatures
(80–100 C), to inactivate enzymes (polyphenol oxidase
and peroxidase) followed by a second longer blanching at
lower temperatures (65–70 C), to control the reducing
sugar content. After blanching the strips are dried in hot
air and subsequently pre-fried for 30–90 s at 170–190 C.
The pre-fried strips are cooled, frozen and packaged.
Finally, the consumer will fry the potatoes again for 3–
6 min before consumption.
Texture of French fries is recognized as one of the most
important quality aspects. The texture of good quality

0963-9969/$ - see front matter  2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.foodres.2006.07.013
64 T. Sanz et al. / Food Research International 40 (2007) 63–70
French fries consists of two parts: a crispy outer crust of
about 1–2 mm (depending on the frying time and tempera-
ture) and a moist and soft interior, like a cooked potato
(Bouchon & Aguilera, 2001). In a structural sense, the crust
can be described as a semi-rigid sponge, partly filled with
oil. About 80% of the crust’s volume is made up of void
space (Lima & Singh, 2001). Confocal Scanning Laser
Micrographs showed that oil in the crust was like an
‘egg-box’ surrounding intact dehydrated potato cell (Pedre-
schi & Aguilera, 2002).
Different mechanical properties of French fries have
been measured as an instrumental measure of its texture.
Bunger, Moyano, and Rioseco (2003) studied the influence
on instrumental texture of a NaCl soaking step by evaluat-
ing different parameters characterizing the force displace-
ment curve (hardness, work and rigidity) obtained by
puncturing simultaneously 10 French fries with a multiple
puncture probe. The maximum shear force necessary to
cut the potato strips with a rectangular attachment was
employed to study the effect of the use of degraded oil on
texture after frying (Kita, Lisinska, & Powolny, 2005).
Measurement of the puncture force and texture profile
analysis was used to evaluate the effect of time and temper-
ature of blanching on final texture (Aguilar, Anzaldúa-
Morales, Talamás, & Gastélum, 1997). Golubowska
(2005) studied the relationship between non-starch polysac-
charide and lignin content and texture by measuring the
maximum shear force. None of these studies was focused
on crispness related attributes.
The number of mechanical events and their size in a
force versus deformation curve has been proposed as an
appropriate way to quantify crispness. The frequency dis-
tribution obtained from this data is considered to form a
mechanical signature of the crisp food (Vincent, 1998).
Recently, a correlation between the number of fracture
events and sensory perception of crispness of French fries
was found (Van Loon, 2005). In addition to the fracturing
properties, the emission of sound is important for the per-
ception of crispness (Drake, 1963; Duizer, 2001; Luyten,
Plijter, & van Vliet, 2004; Vickers & Bourne, 1976). The
sound emitted from foods during deformation and eating
originates from the fracture process. Likely sound emission
is an inherent property of the fracture process of crispy/
crunchy foods. Without sound emission, the food products
may still behave in a brittle way but their crispness is
graded to be much less or absent. Recently, Chaunier,
Courcoux, Della Valle, and Lourdin (2005) stated that
mechanical tests were not sufficient to predict the crispness
of corn flakes and acoustic measurements should be
incorporated.
The present work focuses on the effect of pre-frying and
final frying times on the crispness of French fries using a
fracture–acoustic approach based on the quantification of
the number and size of fracture and acoustic events. To
the best of our knowledge this is the first time that simulta-
neous fracture and acoustic measurements have been per-
formed to analyze crispness of French fries.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. French fries production
French fries production was carried out using the pilot
plant facilities available at Agrotechnology and Food
Innovations (A&F, Wageningen, The Netherlands).
Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) of the Bintje variety, har-
vest 2005, were kindly provided by Aviko (Steenderen, The
Netherlands). The same batch (21.9% dry matter) was used
for all the experiments. Before production, the tubers were
stored at 8 C for a maximum of three months. Firstly, the
tubers (1 kg each time) were peeled, cut into strips
(11 · 11 mm) with a mechanical cutting device and
blanched in tap water. Blanching was carried out in two
steps: first at 80 C for 3 min and next at 65 C for
20 min. The blanched potatoes were pre-dried in hot air
(70 C) for 5 min, which resulted in a drying percentage
of 12%. Relative humidity (RH) was controlled in the pilot
plant where the French fries were produced. It varied
between 30% and 35%. After pre-drying the potatoes were
pre-fried in liquid palm fat at 180 C for 30, 60 and 90 s;
also not pre-fried potatoes were prepared. Subsequently
the strips were cooled at 4 C for 20 min and then frozen
at 30 C for 20 min. The frozen potatoes were kept for
1 week at 20 C and finally fried in peanut oil for 4, 5
and 6 min at 180 C. For fracture and acoustic measure-
ments and for moisture analysis of the outer layer single
frozen potato strips were fried, while for moisture analysis
of the whole French fry, batches of 250 g were fried.
2.2. Mechanical and acoustic measurements
Mechanical testing was performed using a texture ana-
lyzer (TA-XT Plus, Stable Micro Systems Ltd., Surrey,
UK). A standardized protocol was followed for each anal-
ysis. After final frying the individual strip, the oil was
allowed to drain off for 30 s. The mechanical and acoustic
properties were determined exactly 3 min after the strip was
removed from the fryer. The French fry was fractured
transversally with a wedge-shaped aluminum probe (30
cutting angle, 15 mm wide) at a speed of 40 mm/s while
lying on a flat place. In this way biting with the front teeth
was simulated (Vincent, Jeronimidis, Kahn, & Luyten,
1991). Two measurements were carried out on each potato
strip and ten potato strips were analyzed for each frying
condition. A force–deformation curve was constructed
from the resistance that the probe encountered during
penetration.
The sound emitted during fracturing was recorded using
an acoustic sensor (Bruel & Kjær 4189 prepolarized free-
field 1/2’’ microphone plus a 2671 Deltatron preamplifier
microphone) with a frequency band of 6.3 Hz up to
20 kHz and a sensibility of 50 mV/Pa. A fixed distance of
5 cm from the French fry to the microphone was used.
Both the analogue sound signal and the data of the texture
analyzer were converted to a digital signal using a Brüel &
 T. Sanz et al. / Food Research International 40 (2007) 63–70
Kjaer ‘Front-end’ system (type number 2827) with a sam-
pling rate of 65 kHz. Fracture and sound tests were per-
formed inside an isolated acoustic chamber to avoid
interference by external sources of sound. The reduction
in the audible region was about 50 dB. Recording, replay
and basic signal analysis were performed using Brüel &
Kjaer Pulse Labshop Software (version 7.0). More detailed
signal analysis was done using Brüel & Kjaer Sound Qual-
ity type 7698 software and a Microsoft excel macro (Visser,
Luyten, Hamer, & van Vliet, submitted for publication).
This macro allows counting the number of force and sound
events in the force versus time and sound pressure versus
time curves, respectively, as a function of the size of the
event (threshold).
2.3. Moisture analysis
2.3.1. Moisture analysis of the whole French fries
After final frying the potatoes were cooled at 4 C for
20 min. Subsequently they were ground in a Hobart cutter
until the particles were smaller than 0.5 cm. From this
material a sample of approximately 200 g was taken and
weighted (±0.01) and pre-dried for 15 h at 60 C. After
pre-drying the samples were weighted and ground in an
ultra-centrifuge mill (Retsch) using a sieve mesh size of
4 mm. From the pre-dried grinded potatoes a sample of
approximately 3–4 g was weighted (±0.0001) and dried at
105 C for 3 h. After drying the sample was weighted again.
The moisture content of the French fries was calculated
from the different weights determined.
2.3.2. Moisture analysis of the outer layer of the French fries
A near-infrared ray reflectance moisture meter KJT-100
hand-held model (Kett US, CA, USA) was used to quantify
the moisture content of the surface (crust) of the French
fries. The infrared moisture meter irradiates the sample with
infrared light, measures the amount of reflected light with a
sensor and converts the measured amount into a moisture
content value. Measurements were performed with a dis-
tance of 15 cm between the sample and the source of light.
For this purpose, a distance indicator is provided to main-
tain a distance of 15 cm between the sample and the source
of light. A calibration line of a deep-fried product was used
to calculate the moisture content from the absorbance val-
ues. The moisture analysis of the outer layer was determined
before and after final frying of the French fries. After final
frying the individual strip the oil was allowed to drain off for
60 s and the surface moisture content was measured within
the next 120 s. Three French fries were used per measure-
ment and three measurements at different spots of the strip
were performed.
2.4. Statistics analysis
Pairwise comparison between means were tested using a
two-sided t-test (a = 0.05) with GenStat software v 8 (VSN
international Ltd., Herts, UK).
65
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effect of pre-frying on fracture and acoustic properties
A typical force–time curve obtained during the fractur-
ing process of a French fry is shown in Fig. 1. The profile
shows the existence of multiple peaks of varying amplitude,
reflecting the presence of a brittle structure (Vincent, 1998).
Crispy properties of French fries are expected to be mainly
associated to the outer layer, the crust region (Bouchon &
Aguilera, 2001) therefore, only the first 125 ms of the curve,
counting from the first contact of the wedge with the
potato, were considered for further analysis. In this way
the influence of the compression of the inner part of the
French fry on the fracturing data is also reduced.
Fig. 2 shows the force and the simultaneously recorded
sound during the mentioned first 125 ms of the fracture
process for the different pre-frying times and a final frying
time of 5 min. An increase in pre-frying time produced an
increase in the jaggedness of the force curves, together with
an increase in the number of higher amplitude peaks. For
the sound signal a significant increase in the number of
sound events was found with increasing pre-frying time.
The non-pre-fried potatoes did not emit sound during frac-
turing; only the background noise produced by the texture
analyzer can be observed (Fig. 2). Both the increase in the
number of high amplitude force events and in the number
and magnitude of sound events reflect an increase in crisp-
ness (Van Loon, 2005; Visser et al., submitted for
publication).
To quantify objectively the influence of pre-frying and
frying times, the number of peaks and their size were
counted. In Fig. 3 the number of force peaks higher than
a certain threshold (TH) is plotted against that TH. TH
values lower or equal to 0.3 were not considered because
at these TH values there is a large contribution of noise
to the measured number of peaks. To enhance clarity of
the graph, especially of the higher thresholds, the number
of peaks was multiplied by the TH.
The effect of pre-frying was dependent on the TH
employed. For a TH values of 0.5 N or higher the number
of peaks was significantly lower for the non-pre-fried
Fig. 1. Force registered during fracturing of a French fry. Pre-frying time
60 s and final frying time 5 min.
66 T. Sanz et al. / Food Research International 40 (2007) 63–70

5 0.8
no pre-frying no pre-frying
0.6
4

Sound pressure (Pa)

0.4
3
Force (N)

0.2
2 0

1 -0.2
-0.4
0
-0.6
-1 -0.8
0 0.025 0.05 0.075 0.1 0.125 0 0.025 0.05 0.075 0.1 0.125
Time (s)
Time (s)

5 30 s pre-frying
30 s pre-frying 0.6
4

Sound pressure (Pa)

0.4
3
0.2
Force (N)

2 0

1 -0.2

-0.4
0
-0
-1
0 0.025 0.05 0.075 0.1 0.125 -0.8
0 0.025 0.05 0.075 0.1 0.125
Time (s)
Time (s)

0.8
5 60 s pre-frying
60 s pre-frying 0.6
4
Sound pressure (Pa)

0.4
3 0.2
Force (N)

2 0

-0.2
1
-0.4
0
-0.6
-1 -0.8
0 0.025 0.05 0.075 0.1 0.125
0 0.025 0.05 0.075 0.1 0.125
Time (s)
Time (s)

0.8
5
90 s pre-frying
90 s pre-frying 0.6
4
Sound pressure (Pa)

0.4
3
02.
Force (N)

2 0

1 -0.2

-0.4
0
-0.6
-1
-0.8
0 0.025 0.05 0.075 0.1 0.125 0 0.025 0.05 0.075 0.1 0.125
Time (s) Time (s)

Fig. 2. Force (left side) and sound pressure (right side) as a function of time during the first 125 ms of deformation for various pre-frying times (indicated).
Final frying time was 5 min.

samples than for the pre-fried ones. For a TH of 0.9 N an The quantification of the acoustic events can be seen in
increase in the number of peaks from 30 to 60 s and a slight Fig. 4. This figure shows that the differences in fracture
decrease from 60 to 90 s is found, although the differences behavior between the samples are clearer from the sound
were non-significant. data than from the mechanical data. Likely sound mea-
 T. Sanz et al. / Food Research International 40 (2007) 63–70 67

25
5 min frying
20 no pre-frying

(n. peaks >TH)x TH

30 s pre-frying
60 s pre-frying
15
90 s pre-frying

10

0
0.3 0.5 0.7 0.9 1.2 1.5 2
Threshold (TH)(N)

Fig. 3. Influence of pre-frying on the number of force events higher than a certain threshold (TH). Final frying time: 5 min. Bars stand for standard
deviations.

25
5 min frying no pre-frying
20 30 s pre-frying
(n. peaks>TH) x TH

60 s pre-frying
15 90 s pre-frying

10

0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 1 1.2 1.4 1.6 2 2.5
Threshold (TH)(Pa)

Fig. 4. Influence of pre-frying on the number of sound events higher than a certain threshold (TH). Final frying time: 5 min. Bars stand for standard
deviations.

surements are more sensitive than mechanical measure-
ments with relation to crispness of French fries. For all
thresholds considered a significant increase in the number
of events was found with increasing pre-frying time up to
60 s and a slight (non-significant) decrease from 60 to
90 s pre-frying. This will imply an optimum pre-frying time
of 60 s, although a proper sensory test should confirm this
conclusion. In the case of the non-pre-fried potatoes a com-
plete absence of sound events higher than 0.2 Pa was
found, which reflects their low crispness.
As the differences in the amount of large force events
between the non-pre-fried and the pre-fried potatoes was
only evident for force drops larger than 0.5 N, it is con-
cluded that at least structures (beams, struts, films, etc. in
the crust) with a fracture force higher than 0.5 N are neces-
sary to obtain an appreciable sound emission (sound pres-
sure higher than 0.2 Pa). Moreover, these structures have
to fracture in a brittle way to get the high crack speeds that
result in an accompanying sound event (Luyten et al., 2004).
3.2. Effect of final frying time
To evaluate the effect of final frying time the French fries
were fried for 4, 5 and 6 min.
The quantification of the force and sound events for the
different pre-frying and final frying conditions is shown in
Tables 1 and 2, respectively. For a preliminary check if
there was an interaction between pre-frying time and final
frying time ANOVA was used. Results showed that there
was no significant interaction. For the final frying time,
the same trend was obtained as for the effect of pre-frying
time. A longer final frying time produces an increase in the
number of large force events (TH P 0.7 N) and in the
number and magnitude of sound events, which indicates
an increase in crispness. This result agrees with previous
findings by other authors. Du Pont, Kirby, and Smith
(1992) found an increase in sensory crispness of French
fries with frying time. Ross and Scanlon (2004) using a ten-
sile test found a change in the potato crust from a ductile or
pliant to a more brittle material as frying time increased.
However, the increase in crispness with final frying time
was less pronounced than the increase with pre-frying time.
This implies that a longer final frying time cannot be used
as an alternative to counterbalance the lack of crispness
due to the absent, or a short (30 s), pre-frying step. For
example, even after a 6 min frying time, the non-pre-fried
potatoes showed lower crispness than after 4 min frying
of the 30 s pre-fried potatoes.
 68
Table 1
Influence of pre-frying and final frying time on the number of force peaks higher than a certain threshold (TH)
TH (N) Number of force peaks > TH
4 min frying 5 min frying 6 min frying
Pre-frying-time Pre-frying-time Pre-frying-time
0s 30 s 60 s 90 s 0s 30 s 60 s 90 s 0s 30 s 60 s 90 s
0.3 64.9aA 61.2aA 60.4aA 61.0aA 63.5bAB 62.7aA 57.7cA 60.1abcAB 59.3cB 60.7acA 56.9abcA 55.6bcB
(5.0) (4.9) (7.4) (6.4) (4.7) (6.6) (7.5) (5.2) (6.2) (7.2) (6.9) (6.9)
0.5 24.7aA 27.0aA 22.8aA 23.7bA 23.2aAB 26.4aAB 22.9bA 23.9baA 21.2bB 23.7aB 23.9aA 22.8aA
(3.84) (3.2) (2.6) (3.3) (5.9) (4.9) (2.7) (3.6) (4.1) (2.9) (3.5) (3.3)
0.7 4.7bA 7.7aA 8.4aA 7.1aA 5.3bA 8.8aA 8.0aA 8.2aAB 6.6bA 8.4aA 9.0abA 10.4aB
(2.2) (3.4) (4.1) (3.0) (2.6) (3.0) (4.4) (4.1) (5.1) (3.0) (3.1) (3.9)
0.9 0.4bA 2.2aA 3.2aA 2.3aA 1.1aAB 2.0abA 3.6bA 2.8bAB 2.7aB 3.1aA 4.1aA 4.9aB

T. Sanz et al. / Food Research International 40 (2007) 63–70

(0.6) (3.2) (2.5) (2.0) (1.2) (2.5) (3.9) (2.0) (4.1) (2.6) (3.2) (4.6)
1.2 0.1aA 0.5abA 1.1bA 0.9bA 0.1aA 0.7abA 2.0bA 1.1bAB 1.2aA 1.2aA 2.2aA 2.7aB
(0.3) (1.6) (1.4) (1.3) (0.3) (1.2) (2.7) (1.3) (2.5) (1.6) (2.4) (3.0)
1.5 – 0.2aA 0.6aA 0.7aA – 0.3aA 1.3aAB 0.7aA 0.8a 0.7aA 1.5aB 1.8aA
(0.9) (0.9) (0.8) (0.5) (2.1) (0.9) (2.2) (1.2) (1.6) (2.1)
2 – 0.1aA 0.2aA 0.2aA – 0.1aA 0.6aAB 0.3aAB – 0.4abA 0.8aB 0.8aB
(0.4) (0.4) (0.4) (0.3) (1.4) (0.6) (0.8) (1.0) (1.0)
Values between brackets correspond to the standard deviation.
abc
For the same row and for the same final frying time means without a common letter are significantly different.
ABC
For the same row and for the same pre-frying time means without a common letter differ are significantly different.

Table 2
Influence of pre-frying and final frying time on the number of sound peaks higher than a certain threshold (TH)
TH (Pa) Number of sound peaks > TH
4 min frying 5 min frying 6 min frying
Pre-frying-time Pre-frying-time Pre-frying-time
0s 30 s 60 s 90 s 0s 30 s 60 s 90 s 0s 30 s 60 s 90 s
0.3 0.6aA 4.0bA 12.8cA 8.7cA 0.2aA 5.4bAB 19.8cA 10.5bcA 2.4aA 9.7bB 23.1cA 21.5cB
(1.7) (5.3) (12.2) (7.9) (0.5) (7.0) (19.5) (10.5) (4.8) (8.5) (18.0) (14.5)
0.7 – 0.5aA 2.4aA 1.5aA – 0.4aA 3.0bA 1.9abA 0.4a 1.3bA 4.1cA 3.8cB
(1.2) (3.6) (2.3) (0.9) (3.3) (3.0) (1.2) (2.1) (4.0) (3.8)
1.2 – 0.1aA 0.6aA 0.4aA – 0.1aA 0.6bA 0.3abA – 0.2aA 0.8aA 0.7aA
(0.5) (0.9) (0.7) (0.3) (1.1) (0.7) (0.7) (1.6) (1.3)
1.6 – 0.1aA 0.1aA 0.2aA – – 0.2aA 0.1aA – 0.05aA 0.5aA 0.2aA
(0.2) (0.5) (0.4) (0.6) (0.3) (0.2) (1.3) (0.5)
2 – 0.05a 0.06aA 0.1aA – – 0.06A – – – 0.4aA 0.1aA
(0.2) (0.2) (0.2) (0.2) (1.2) (0.2)
Values between brackets correspond to the standard deviation.
abc
For the same row and for the same final frying time means without a common letter are significantly different.
ABC
For the same row and for the same pre-frying time means without a common letter are significantly different.
 T. Sanz et al. / Food Research International 40 (2007) 63–70 69

This situation implies that pre-frying and subsequent 16

cooling are essential for the final crispness of the French 14
Before final frying 4 min 5 min 6 min
fries. 12

Moisture (crust) %
10
3.3. Relationship between moisture and crispness
8

In order to better understand the influence of pre-frying 6

and final frying on crispness the moisture content of the 4
whole French fry and of the outer layer only were 2
determined.
0
no pre-frying 30 s 90 s
3.3.1. Moisture content of the whole French fry Pre-frying time(s)
The moisture content values of the whole French fries
Fig. 6. Influence of pre-frying and final frying time on the moisture
after final frying are shown in Fig. 5. As expected, an
content of the outer crust of the French fries. Bars stand for standard
increase in both pre-frying and final frying time decreases deviations.
the moisture content of the French fries (Gamble, Rice,
& Selman, 1987). The comparison of the results for mois-
ture and crispness reveals that moisture of the whole 25
French fry cannot be used to explain the difference in crisp-

Number of sound peaks

20
ness due to different pre-frying conditions. The clearest 90 s pre-frying
example appears when comparing potatoes pre-fried for 15
60 s and final fried for 5 min and non-pre-fried potatoes
final fried for 6 min; although their moisture content is 10
30 s pre-frying
the same, their crispness is drastically different. This implies
5
that the differences in crispness due to different pre-frying
No pre-frying
conditions cannot be understood in terms of different mois- 0
ture content of the whole French fries alone. 0 5 10 15
Moisture in the crust (%)
3.3.2. Moisture content of the outer layer Fig. 7. Number of sound peaks higher than 0.3 Pa emitted during fracture
As the fracture and acoustic properties were studied of French fries versus crust moisture content (%).
only for the outer layer of the potatoes, which is the part
that primarily determines the crispness of the French fries,
the moisture content of the outer layer was also determined pre-frying time than the change in moisture content of the
(Fig. 6). The water content of the outer layer, before the whole French fry. The pre-frying step leads to a decrease in
final frying step, was strongly affected by the presence of moisture of the crust that cannot be achieved with the non-
a pre-frying step. Non-pre-fried French fries had a mois- pre-fried potatoes by only increasing the final frying time.
ture content of 12% that decreased to approximately 9% This conclusion is reflected in Fig. 7, where the correlation
after final frying. Pre-frying for 30 or 90 s led to a moisture among the moisture in the crust and the number of sound
content of 8–9% before final frying. The latter decreased peaks higher than 0.3 Pa is shown. The figure shows that
the moisture level of the crust to 5–7%. These results show data are well grouped according their pre-frying time,
that the change in moisture content of the outer layer of the which illustrates that there is a good correlation between
French fry can better explain the increase in crispness with the effect of pre-frying on the moisture of the crust and
crispness.

70
4 min 5 min 6 min 4. Conclusions
60

50 Analysis of the frequency distribution of the number

Moisture (%)

40 and magnitude of force and sound events obtained while

fracturing French fries with a wedge at human chewing
30
speed reflects an effect of both pre-frying and final frying
20 time on crispness. The increase in pre-frying time up to
10 60 s increased the number of large force peaks (P0.7 N)
0 and the number and magnitude of sound events, which
no pre-frying 30 s 60 s 90 s reflect an increase in instrumental crispness. A further
Pre-frying time (s) increase from 60 to 90 s pre-frying showed a slight decrease
Fig. 5. Influence of pre-frying and final frying time on the moisture in crispness. The increase in final frying time increased
content of the whole French fries. Bars stand for standard deviations. crispness, but it cannot counterbalance a lack of pre-frying.
70 T. Sanz et al. / Food Research International 40 (2007) 63–70
The differences in crispness due to different pre-frying times
cannot be explained in terms of moisture content of the
whole French fries, but can be explained in terms of the
moisture content of the outer layer. The pre-frying step
likely affects the morphology of the outer crust by allowing
an easier loss of water during the final frying step.
Acknowledgements
Special thanks to Wim Lichtendonk for the support in
the fracture and sound measurements, to Dinie Slotboon
for the instructions on the French fries processing machin-
ery and to Pieter Vereijken for the assistance in the statistic
treatment. Also many thanks to Aviko BV (Steenderen,
The Netherlands) for supplying the raw potatoes and for
the expertise assistance of Martin Keijbets. The authors
are indebted to the Ministerio de Educación Cultura y De-
porte of the Spanish Government for the post-doctoral
grant awarded to author T. Sanz.
References
Aguilar, C. N., Anzaldúa-Morales, A., Talamás, R., & Gastélum, G.
(1997). Low-temperature blanch improves textural quality of French-
fries. Journal of Food Science, 62(3), 568–571.
Bouchon, P., & Aguilera, J. M. (2001). Microstructural analysis of frying
potatoes. International Journal of Food Science and Technology, 36,
669–676.
Bunger, A., Moyano, P., & Rioseco, V. (2003). NaCl soaking treatment
for improving the quality of French-fried potatoes. Food Research
International, 36, 161–166.
Chaunier, L., Courcoux, P., Della Valle, G., & Lourdin, D. (2005).
Physical and sensory evaluation of cornflakes crispness. Journal of
Texture Studies, 36(1), 93–118.
Drake, B. (1963). Food crushing sounds. An introductory study. Journal
of Food Science, 28, 233–241.
Duizer, L. (2001). A review of acoustic research for studying the sensory
perception of crisp, crunchy and crackly textures. Trends in Food
Science and Technology, 12, 17–24.
Du Pont, M. S., Kirby, A. R., & Smith, A. C. (1992). Instrumental and
sensory tests of texture of cooked frozen French fries. International
Journal of Food Science and Technology, 27(3), 285–295.
Gamble, M. H., Rice, P., & Selman, J. D. (1987). Relationship between oil
uptake and moisture loss during frying of potato slices from c.v.
Record UK tubers. International Journal of Food Science and Tech-
nology, 22(3), 233–241.
Golubowska, G. (2005). Changes of polysaccharide content and texture of
potato during French fries production. Food Chemistry, 90, 847–851.
Kita, A., Lisinska, G., & Powolny, M. (2005). The influence of frying
medium degradation on fat uptake and texture of French fries. Journal
of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 85, 1113–1118.
Lamberg, I., Hallstroem, B., & Olsson, H. (1990). Fat uptake in a potato
drying/frying process. Lebensmittel Wissenschaft und Technologie,
23(4), 295–300.
Lesinska, G., & Leszczynski, W. (1989). Potato science and technology.
New York: Elsevier Science.
Lima, I., & Singh, R. P. (2001). Viscoelastic behavior of fried potato crust.
Journal of Texture Studies, 32, 131–141.
Luyten, H., Plijter, J. J., & van Vliet, T. (2004). Crispy/crunchy crusts of
cellular solid foods: A literature review with discussion. Journal of
Texture Studies, 35(5), 445–492.
Pedreschi, F., & Aguilera, J. M. (2002). Some changes in potato chips
during frying observed by confocal laser scanning microscopy
(CLSM). Food Science and Technology International, 8(4), 197–201.
Ross, K. A., & Scanlon, M. G. (2004). A fracture mechanics analysis of
the texture of fried potato crust. Journal of Food Engineering, 62,
417–423.
Stier, R. F. (2004). Frying as a science. An introduction. European Journal
of Lipid Science and Technology, 106(11), 715–721.
Van Loon, W. A. M. (2005). Process innovation and quality aspects of
French fries. PhD Thesis Wageningen University, The Netherlands.
Vickers, Z., & Bourne, M. C. (1976). A psychoacoustical theory of
crispness. Journal of Food Sciences, 41, 1158–1164.
Vincent, J. F. V. (1998). The quantification of crispness. Journal of the
Science of Food and Agriculture, 78, 162–168.
Vincent, J. F. V., Jeronimidis, G., Kahn, A. A., & Luyten, H. (1991). The
wedge fracture test: A new method for measurement of food texture.
Journal of Texture Studies, 22(1), 45–57.
Visser, J. E., Luyten, H., Hamer, R. J., & van Vliet, T. (submitted for
publication). A mechanical–acoustical test for the determination of
crispness, a study on cracotte crackers.