Modelling Dry Matter Losses From Carrots During Blanching

The mechanism of component losses from carrots during blanching was investigated by determination of reducing sugars, sucrose, total soluble solids and total solids in raw and variously blanched samples of Nantes carrots. the samples were 26 mm diameter, 26 or 60 mm long; blanching temperatures ranged 65–100°C and blanching times ranged 300–3600 s. Experiments were conducted using large amounts of well agitated water. Appropriate solutions of the unsteady state diffusion equation for finite cylinder geometry were used. the apparent diffusivities of each component were determined separately at different temperatures and resulting values correlated linearly or exponentially with temperature. the order‐of‐magnitudes of the apparent diffusivities were found to be 10−10‐10−11 m2s−1 and in good agreement with literature values.