Decreasing Oil Uptake of Doughnuts During Deep‐fat Frying Using Curdlan

The ability of the dry ingredient curdlan (0% to 1% w/w) to lower oil uptake and moisture loss in doughnuts during deep‐fat frying was compared with that of cellulose derivatives. An index expressing the ratio between oil uptake and moisture loss was developed. The addition of curdlan showed a linear effect on reducing each parameter (p < 0.001) within a range of 0% to 0.5%. This effect of curdlan probably is attributed to its thermal gelling property, and the heat‐induced gel during frying probably functioned as an oil and moisture barrier. Cellulose derivatives were less effective than curdlan in this respect.