Investigations about the possibility to measure quality characteristics of cooked potatoes by instrumental methods

Instrumental methods were developed to evaluate several properties of cooked potatoes: mealiness, softness (consistency), sloughing (disintegration), dryness, (coarseness of) structure, yellowness, discoloration and falling apart. Advantages (and some disadvantages of instrumental methods over sensory ones were discussed. There was little relation between specific gravity and texture.Mealiness was measured by the stickiness after mashing, and softness by resistance of the potatoes to pressure by a metal bar driven into the potato. For sloughing no mechanical method seemed suitable. Fibrousness was estimated by staining xylem. A quick and sufficiently accurate method for measuring 0 colour was described. The results of the method of estimating discoloration varied but were promising. Limitations of the methods were discussed. Suggestions were made for further research to fill gaps in knowledge of the physical and chemical background of quality.