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.