Kinetic Parameters for Thermal Degradation of Green Asparagus Texture by Unsteady‐state Method

An unsteady‐state method was developed for estimating texture degradation during heating‐cooling of green asparagus spears. The method used a mathematical model of heat transmission for time‐temperature history estimation, and a nonlinear regression of texture measurements of asparagus spears to estimate kinetic parameters. The specific heat, conductivity and convective coefficient of green asparagus were determined experimentally and used in the mathematical model for temperature estimation. Values obtained were Ea = 76.19±0.13 kJ/mol and k 1158°C = 0.00528±0.00005 s ‐1 . Good agreement was found between predicted and observed texture values. The method was compared with the classical steady‐state method. The mathematical model and kinetic parameters estimated could be used to design and evaluate thermal processes for green asparagus.