FROZEN FRENCH‐FRIED POTATOES. Effects of Thawing and Holding Before Finish Frying and Their Nonrelation to Starch Retrogradation

SUMMARY— Frozen par-fried French-fry cuts allowed to thaw and held several hours before being finish-fried lost more weight (due to loss of moisture) and absorbed more fat than it not held. The yield of finished product decreased about 7% and fat uptake increased about 25% when par-fries were held for 3 days at 50°F. Smaller but economically significant changes occurred in only 1-1/2 hr at this temperature or in 5 hr at 40°F. The rate of the change in par-fries which causes lower yields and greater fat absorption increases with increasing temperature. The time course of the change at 50°F is similar to that of starch retrogradation in par-fries but the rote of retrogradation decreases with increasing temperature; therefore, these appear to be unrelated phenomena. There is no combination of time and temperature for frying par-fries from the thawed state which is equivalent in all respects to a given combination for frying them from the frozen state.