Quality improvement of microwave freeze‐dried prepared taro balls: synergistic addition of guar gum and sodium bicarbonate.

Summary: The current work was carried out to enhance the quality (including product colour, rehydration performance, textural properties, product cracking rate and sensory evaluation) of microwave freeze‐dried prepared taro balls, a popular starch‐based food product, by synergistic addition of guar gum and sodium bicarbonate. The results showed that taro balls with added sodium bicarbonate had the shortest freeze‐drying time (153 min), but the high‐cracking rate (66.67%) was not acceptable to consumers. The addition of guar gum could effectively reduce the cracking rate (17.5%) during freeze‐drying of taro balls, but did not significantly improve sensory evaluation and textural properties. The combination of sodium bicarbonate and guar gum demonstrated satisfactory positive effects in increasing the rehydration rate of freeze‐dried taro balls (53.67%), maintaining the whiteness (WI = 84.52) and reducing the cracking rate (21.67%). Although sodium bicarbonate alone produced the best results in terms of sensory ratings and textural properties, there was no significant difference between the effects of sodium bicarbonate alone and the combination of the two food additives on rehydrated taro balls. Therefore, the combination of sodium bicarbonate and guar gum is an appropriate hybrid strategy for producing high quality freeze‐dried taro balls. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]