Effect of starch gelatinization and vacuum frying conditions on structure development and associated quality attributes of cassava-gluten based snack O.C. Oginni a , O.P. Sobukola a, *, F.O. Henshaw a , W.A.O. Afolabi b , L. Munoz c a Department of Food Science and Technology, Federal University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria b Department of Nutrition and Dietetics, Federal University of Agriculture, P.M.B. 2240, Abeokuta, Nigeria c Department of Chemical and Bioprocess Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile, P.O. Box 306, 6904411, Santiago, Chile 1. Introduction The change from supply-based activities to demand based industries has necessitated designers to reverse their mode of operation from supply oriented into demand-oriented (Linnemann, Meerdink, Meulenberg, & Jongen, 1999). This process called chain reversal (Linnemann, Benner, Verkerk, & van Boekel, 2006) is also being adopted in the food industry in order to respond to the demand of consumers for food products that contribute to their wellness and health while also ensuring consistency in texture, flavours and colours f o o d s t r u c t u r e x x x ( 2 0 1 4 ) x x x . e 1 – x x x . e 9 a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 8 August 2014 Received in revised form 6 November 2014 Accepted 8 December 2014 Available online xxx Keywords: Cassava starch Gelatinization Vacuum frying Oil content Quality a b s t r a c t The effect of degree of starch gelatinization (DG) and vacuum frying conditions on structure development and associated quality attributes of cassava starch–gluten based snack was investigated. Cassava starches (88%, d.b.) of three different DG (0, 33.1 and 64.24%) were mixed with gluten (12%, d.b.) to obtain dough. Sheeted dough was cut into matrices and fried under vacuum pressure (5–25 cmHg) and frying temperature (108–141 8C) and then com- pared with atmospheric fried samples. From the results obtained, DG and vacuum frying conditions significantly ( p < 0.05) affected quality attributes of the fried matrices with the former more significant than the latter. When highly gelatinized cassava starch was used in the formulation, the oil uptake was reduced by 74.5% and 81.4%, when slightly gelatinized and native cassava starches were used. Irrespective of the DG, vacuum fried samples had better quality attributes than atmospheric fried matrices. In conclusion, cassava starch– gluten snacks fried at higher vacuum pressure conditions using highly gelatinized starches gave fried matrices with lower oil uptake, improved texture and colour change which are the acceptable characteristics to consumers. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to study the surface structure of fried matrices under different vacuum and starch modifica- tion conditions. # 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. * Corresponding author. Tel.: +234 8035637361. E-mail address: sobukolaop@funaab.edu.ng (O.P. Sobukola). FOOSTR-22; No. of Pages 9 Please cite this article in press as: Oginni, O.C., et al., Effect of starch gelatinization and vacuum frying conditions on structure development and associated quality attributes of cassava-gluten based snack. Food Structure (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foostr.2014.12.001 Available online at www.sciencedirect.com ScienceDirect journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/foostr http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.foostr.2014.12.001 2213-3291/# 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.