PELADO QUIMICO Y TERMOFISICO DE ESPARRAGOS

One stage chemical and steam peeling of asparagus, Argentuil variety, has been studied. Response Surface Methodology was used to evaluate the effect of the variables, NaOH concentration of bath (20, 40, 60 g/kg), bath temperature (55, 70, 85oC) and the peeling time (30, 75, 120 seconds) on yield and peeling quality. For steam peeling process the effect of peeling time (10, 20, 30 seconds) and asparagus size on the mentioned responses was also studied. Statistical models developed for chemical peeling of asparagus were appropriate; processing conditions for optimum peeling quality and highest yield were found in regions of low NaOH bath concentration, short peeling time and high bath temperature. The optimum steam peeling time, for both asparagus sizes, was 20 seconds, for a steam pressure of 5.1 kg/cm2.