ABSTRACT
Peeling is a common unit process for many fruits and vegetables to produce fresh-cut, minimally processed, and canned food products. Mechanical peeling utilizes knives, blades, or abrasive devices to remove the undesirable part directly from raw food materials. Lye peeling, also known as caustic peeling, is a chemical method used for peel removal of thin-skinned products, where raw food materials are exposed to a heated solution containing caustic chemicals that can dissolve the skin. The steam peeling technique involves placing raw fruits or vegetables inside a pressure vessel, and exposing them to high temperatures and pressurized steam for rapid heating in a short period. Infrared peeling has been developed as a sustainable and promising peeling technique that can eliminate the use of any chemicals and any heating media like hot water or pressurized steam to promote skin separation. The ohmic heating technique was investigated for the tomato peeling process.
