Alberto Diaz

Differentiation between Cooking Bananas and Dessert Bananas. 1. Morphological and Compositional Characterization of Cultivated Colombian Musaceae (Musa sp.) in Relation to Consumer Preferences

The morphological, physical, and chemical characteristics of 23 unripe cultivated varieties of Colombian Musaceae were assessed. Fresh pulp dry matter helped to discriminate the following consumption subgroups: FHIA dessert hybrids (hydes: 24.6%) < dessert bananas (des: 29.4%) < nonplantain cooking bananas (cook: 32.0%) < FHIA cooking hybrids (hycook: 34.2%) < plantains (pl: 41.1%). Banana flour starch content on dry basis (db) varied from 74.2 to 88.2% among the varieties, with: pl: 86.5% > cook and hycook: 84% > des: 81.9% > hydes: 79.7% (p <or= 0.01). Flour pH varied in the range 4.8 to 6.2, with the highest pH for the plantain subgroup (5.6), which also had lower titratable acidity than those of the cooking banana and FHIA groups with 7.9, 13.6, and 15.6 mEq H(+)/100 g db, respectively (p <or= 0.05). pl and hycook presented the highest glucose and fructose contents at 0.8% and 1.5% (p <or= 0.05). No significant differences were observed between the groups in proteins (3.2%), total soluble sugars (1.7%), and crude fibers (3%). pl had lower ash, calcium, and magnesium contents (2.7%; 8.4 and 90.7 mg/100 g db) than des (3.2%; 9.3 and 117.9 mg/100 g db) and hydes (3.9%; 23.7 and 125 mg/100 g db) (p <or= 0.05). pl and des had significantly lower peel percentages (38%) than the other subgroups (42-45%). The principal components analysis (PCA) highlights the strong relationship between some of the varietal characteristics and the consumption pattern, which is especially marked for the plantain subgroup in relation to stakeholder and the consumer preferences.

Differentiation between Cooking Bananas and Dessert Bananas. 2. Thermal and Functional Characterization of Cultivated Colombian Musaceae (Musa sp.)

The starch and flour thermal and functional characteristics of 23 cultivated varieties of bananas in Colombia were assessed. Onset temperature for gelatinization of starches measured by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) varied from 59.7 to 67.8 degrees C, thereby significantly differentiating dessert bananas (63.2 degrees C) from nonplantain cooking bananas (65.7 degrees C) from FHIA hybrids (66.6 degrees C) and plantains (67.1 degrees C). FHIA hybrids are significantly discriminated from dessert banana landraces but not from the cooking group. The starch amylose contents varied from 15.4 to 24.9%; most dessert banana starch amylose contents were below 19%, whereas in cooking banana starches the contents were over 21%. Flour functional properties were assessed by Rapid ViscoAnalyser (RVA) using silver nitrate as alpha-amylase inhibitor. The flour pasting temperature was relevant to differentiate dessert bananas (69.5 degrees C) from FHIA dessert hybrids and nonplantain cooking bananas (72.8 degrees C) from cooking hybrids and plantains (75.8 degrees C). Among other criteria, the cooking ability also helped to differentiate dessert bananas and FHIA hybrids from cooking bananas. A close relation between cultivar genotypes and uses with the thermal and pasting properties were revealed.

Kinetics of moisture loss and fat absorption during frying for different varieties of plantain

This study compares the behaviour of four varieties of green plantain at their initial stage of maturity during the frying process. A variety traditionally used for the manufacture of thin plantain chips (Dominico Harton commun) and three other varieties found in Latin America (Bouroukou, Bluggoe and FHIA 21) were used. The varieties were characterised by measuring initial moisture content, total sugar content, reducing sugar content, starch content and apparent density. Moisture loss and fat uptake kinetics during frying were assessed at different temperatures (145, 165 and 185°C). With all four varieties, the time required to produce a final moisture content of 40 g kg−1 (wb) was about 90 s at 165°C and 185°C. Use of a lower temperature (145°C) extended the processing time to 150 s. On the other hand, temperature had very little effect on fat content, which proved to be essentially determined by the variety of plantain. Fat content for final water content levels of 40 g kg−1 (wb) ranged from 300 g kg−1 (wb) for Bouroukou to 450 g kg−1 (wb) for Bluggoe regardless of the processing temperature. © 1999 Society of Chemical Industry