Cooking effects on water distribution in potatoes using nuclear magnetic resonance relaxation

Continuous low-field (LF) (1)H NMR relaxometry was used to monitor the structural changes during cooking of potatoes with two different dry matter (DM) contents. A principal component analysis of the relaxation decay curves revealed major events related to water mobility during cooking, which occur at 53 and 60 degrees C for potatoes with medium and low DM contents, respectively. Exponential analysis of the relaxation decays reveals two major water populations in the potato: a slow-relaxing (assigned to water in cytoplasm and extracellular cavities) water component, T(22) ( approximately 350-550 ms), and a fast-relaxing component (primarily assigned to water associated with starch and cell walls), T(21) ( approximately 45-65 ms). Significant DM dependent shifts in both the T(21) and T(22) relaxation time constants were observed during cooking, indicating that starch gelatinizes between 53 and 70 degrees C with water exchanging with the hydroxyls of starch (transition in T(21)) and cells start to disrupt with an increase in diffusion volumes at approximately 60 degrees C (transition in T(22)). The study reveals that continuous LF NMR measurement is an excellent and highly sensitive method to study changes in water mobility and water populations during the cooking of potatoes.