Consuming
Thoughts
Fay Strickler
Penn State Extension
Home Economist
For Berks Co.
During the past several years,
Pennsylvania State University
food scientists in the College of
Agriculture have conducted
research on blanching vegetables.
Results of their research will
help consumers improve the qual
ity of freezing vegetables in their
home. Blanching vegetables prior
to freezing not only improves fla
vor but also improves color and
texture.
Blanching is the process of
heating vegetables quickly to
destroy enzymes, remove air, and
shrink food. This practice minim
izes vitamin losses and slows
unwanted color and flavor
changes that occur after veget
ables are frozen. It also reduces
environmental and pesticide
residues and kills or removes
many microorganisms on veget
able surfaces.
Members of the Food Science
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mins and fresh flavors when vitamins and have fresher flavor, residues and vegetable cnmnn
water-cooled. If the bacterial qual- However, microwave and steam nents it should changed after
ity permits vegetables to be eaten blanching may be less effective in each three to 10 batchS to prevent
raw, as is the case except where removing microorganisms and it > s adding strong o ff-flavors to
fresh animal manure is used residues from food surfaces. blanched vegetables
around growing plants, then air* Blanching times depend on the if vou wt f u i d lik ' a
cooUng of blanched vegetables is blanching method as well as the complimentary copy of the Penn
an acceptable practice and results kinds and sizes of vegetables. Ide- state * s recommendations for
in a safe food with superior al times are just enough to destroy blanching vegetables pick \p a
qu * bty - u . M u "J ost enzymes. If vegetables are copy at our office or send a self-
Vegetables may be blanched in -blanched for too short a time, their addressed business size envelope
boiling water, microwave ovens, quality may be worse than if not with 45 cents postage to: Blanch
or steam. Compared with those blanched at all. Over-blanching Vegetables, Berks County
Wanched . in h Ol ‘”8 wa ter. micro- causes excessive quality losses. Cooperative Extension, Berks Co
wave and steam-blanched veget- The water used for blanching Ag Center PO Box 520 Leesnort
Department have perfected micro- ables retain more water-soluble gradually accumulates dirt, pa losruwn ’ '
wave blanching, but learned that __i .. _ m m —. . ' .
Breakthroughs May Enhance Economic
microwave. ■
They have successfully
microwave-blanched and air
cooled spinach, sugar snap peas,
green beans, and Brussel sprouts
and found them to be superior to
conventionally blanched and
water-cooled vegetables.
However, researchers disliked
microwave-blanched broccoli and
cauliflower.
Air-cooling of blanched veget
ables has been discouraged for
years. Past directions emphasized
that blanched vegetables should
always be water-cooled, even
using ice in many references, to
maximize the nutrient content.
Now it is know that properly
heat-stabilized (blanched) veget
ables lose both water-soluble vita-
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Value Of Dairy Products
HUNGTINGDON (Hunting- that il almost eliminates the an- may he, in part, to deliver retinol
don Co.) —By manipulating the noying tendency of yogurt to form m the developing nursing animal,
molecular structure of a milk pro- pools of liquid during storage, said Humans do not make this suh
tcin, Cornell University scientists Carl Ball, associate professor of stance, although placental protein
have demonstrated the feasibility tcxid science. 14 , s very similar
of creating new dairy ingredients
and products with*cnhanccd eco
nomic value.
The researchers have borrowed
genetic engineering techniques
used by the pharmaceutical indus
try, in which properties of a mole
cule arc predictably changed bas
ed on a knowledge of its three-di
mensional structure. To illustrate
the technique’s potential, they
have slightly altered the structure
of a milk protein normally found
in whey, bcta-lactoglobulm, so
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“ImprovcmcnLs lo bcta-lacto
globulin that enhance ns perfor
mance during food processing will
have a profound effect on its eco
nomic value,” he said. “We’ve
shown that genes can be altered lo
produce variants of bcta-lactoglo
bulm. We’ve shown that these
genes can be altered to produce
variants of bcta-lactoglobulin. We
have every reason to believe that
these genes eventually can be ex
pressed in cows, which would
open new markets for the use of
whey proteins.”
Bcta-lactoglobulin is found in
the milk of many, but not all, rum
inants. An interior cavity in the
protein binds a vitamin, retinol,
and scientists believe bcta-lacto
globulm’s physiological function
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Yogurt made with small
amounts of modified bcta-lacto
glohulm forms a gel six to 10
limes as easily as ordinary yogurt,
Ball said. The process also cuts
the processing temperature from
85 degrees Celsius to 70 degrees
or less, eliminates the need to add
starch in order to obtain a better
gel, and reduces the lime needed
for curd formation. All these fac
tors could lower the cost of yogurt
manufacturing. In addition, the
modified protein reduced the se
paration of whey into the pools on
lop of yogurt by as much as 83
percent. The researchers also arc
exploring using modified beta
lactoglobuhns as transport agents
for pharmaceuticals
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