Texture characteristics of carrots as affected by storage temperature and duration

Author: Peter Alvo ^{1, 2}, Clément Vigneault ^1*, Jennifer R. DeEll ^{1, 3} and Yvan Gariépy ^{1, 4}

Received 18 January 2004, accepted 25 April 2004.

Abstract

Carrots were stored for 7, 14, or 21 days at temperatures of –2, 0, 8 and 15°C. Texture characterization was done with a puncture test. A Lloyd Universal Testing Machine was used to drive the 7.94 mm cylindrical punch at a constant speed of 25 mm•min^-1 at mid length of the carrot samples. The parameters used for the analysis were: the force at failure, the displacement, the work and the slope of the load-displacement curve between 50 and 150 N. Carrot length, mass, diameter at mid-length and moisture content were also recorded. The statistical analysis indicated that the slope of the load-displacement curve was the most discriminating parameter to compare the texture of carrots stored for different period of time and at different temperatures.