Jilebi 3: Effect of frying conditions on physical characteristics

The process of jilebi making includes the frying
of specially shaped batter strands to obtain a crisp texture
followed by absorption of sugar syrup. The effects of frying
temperature (150–180 °C) and time (15–300 s) on the
physical characteristics have been investigated; these are
moisture and fat contents, density, colour, textural attributes
and microstructure. Among the textural parameters
obtained by shearing the jilebi strands, shear failure force
and the number of minor fractures increase markedly with
an increase in time of frying. The brightness of the sample
is lower when fried at higher temperatures like 180 °C
compared to that of 150 °C; the hue or dominant
wavelength of batter prior to frying is 578.0 nm, and after
frying, it is between 564.8 and 591.3 nm indicating an
overall shift towards yellow colouration during frying. The
density of the jilebi strands decreases along with moisture
content, while fat content increases gradually with an
increase in frying time. The microstructure and image
analysis of the fried products indicate the creation of porous
structure consisting of several pores that are separated by thin
cell walls of thickness between 10 and 15 μm. The eccentricity
of pores/vacuoles in jilebi is between 0 and 0.92 indicating a
close resemblance to elliptical shapes. The samples fried at
160 °C for 180–240 s have been judged as the best sample
both as fried and fried-sugar syrup soaked products.