Abstract

Texture is an important quality attribute of fresh and processed foods. In plant foods, texture is closely related with the structural integrity of the primary cell walls and middle lamella that is mainly composed of pectic substances. Bananas mainly contain water, starch, pectin and fibre which influence texture. Cooking bananas soften on cooking but harden on cooling. Despite many studies on retrogradation of starch and its effects on texture, little is known about the effect of added starch and/or breakdown of pectin on hardness of bananas upon cooking and cooling. In this study, the effects of added pectin and starch and structural elimination of pectin on hardness of bananas during cooking and cooling were investigated.

Hydrolysis of pectin resulted in significantly harder bananas during cooking and upon cooling (P<0.05). Hardness of starch-treated bananas increased significantly with increasing starch concentration upon cooking and cooling relative to the control (P<0.05). However, treatment of bananas with added pectin alone resulted in an insignificant increase in hardness relative to the control. Upon cooling, hardness of pectin-treated bananas decreased significantly with increasing pectin concentration (P<0.05). Hardness of cooked bananas treated with a combination of starch and pectin increased but was not significantly different from the control. Upon cooling, hardness of the starch-pectin treated bananas decreased with increasing concentration similar to the effect of pectin when added alone.

Current results showed that starch addition increases hardness of bananas upon cooking and cooling. However, pectin addition decreases hardness of cooked bananas upon cooling while structural elimination of pectin increases hardness upon cooking and cooling. These results imply that pectin contributes to a softer texture of bananas during cooking and cooling whereas starch increases hardness in cooked bananas. Pectin can therefore be added up to 5% to decrease hardness of cooked bananas.

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