Abstract:In order to optimize the shaping process of vegetable balls, samples were prepared in this experiment using peas and carrots as main raw materials, together with soybean protein isolate and starch. Single-factor experiments were applied to optimize the conditions of steaming, microwave heating and infrared heating. Measured indexes including hardness, springiness, gel strength, electronic tongue, electronic nose and sensory evaluation were analyzed to investigate the effects of four heating methods (steaming, microwave heating, infrared heating and steaming-microwave heating) on the texture and taste quality for vegetable balls under different boiling time. SPSS analysis showed that the boiling time had a significant effect on texture and taste quality of samples (P<0.05). Compared with the single heating methods, steaming-microwave heating (steaming for 10 minutes combined with microwave heating under 280 w for 40 s) was beneficial to the retention of texture and taste flavor characteristics of vegetable balls. After balls boiled for 2 hours, the hardness retention rate reached 66.6%, and the elastic value was above 0.9. The gel strength retention rate was 70.8%, and the salty and umami taste retention rate was over 89.0%. Steaming combined with microwave heating is thus indicated as an ideal processing method to prepare vegetable balls.
