Oil Uptake in Deep Fat Frying as Affected by Porosity

The porosity of a restructured potato product ranged from 0.089 to 0.168 after fluctuating subfreezing storage temperatures. A linear relation was found between oil uptake during frying and porosity prior to frying. Bulk and particle density, and porosity were monitored for up to 5 min during deep‐fat frying. Particle density increased gradually, bulk density decreased and porosity increased noticeably. After an initial short period, oil uptake correlated linearly with porosity of the fried product. A new term, “net porosity” which excluded the void volume occupied by oil was developed for describing the oil uptake mechanism.