Developing a household vacuum cooking equipment, testing its performance on strawberry jam production and its comparison with atmospheric cooking

In this research, the performance of a kitchen appliance cooking equipment prototype, which can operate either under vacuum or at atmospheric pressure, is aimed to be developed and tested on strawberry jam production. Vacuum cooking applications were carried out at two different conditions as 17.5 and 25 minutes at 75 °C. Strawberry jam was also cooked at atmospheric pressure for 5, 10, 15 and 20 min. The effect of cooking conditions under vacuum and atmospheric pressure was determined by the following analysis; brix, color (L*, a*, b*) values, chroma (C*), hue (h°), pH value, titratable acidity, reducing and total sugar content (%), hydroxymethylfurfural content (HMF) and sensorial analysis. When the strawberry jam that is produced at atmospheric pressure is compared to the ones that are produced under vacuum, atmospheric cooked jam got higher Brix and was more viscous depending on the applied elevated temperature. HMF content of jam produced at atmospheric pressure was also found to be excessively high compared to the jam produced under vacuum. As it has been foreseen in the beginning of the study, vacuum cooking has been effective in reducing the HMF content of the strawberry jam due to the low temperature application. Sensorial quality of the vacuum-processed strawberry jam was superior in terms of color, appearance, consistency, taste and overall acceptance comparing to the atmosphere processed jams. This data could be utilized to contribute to the development of a household vacuum cooking equipment and the opportunity to produce with less harmful ingredients in home environment. © 2016, Eesti Pollumajandusulikool. All rights reserved