Physicochemical properties of masa and corn tortilla made by ohmic heating

Abstract

Instant corn flour obtained by ohmic heating (OHICF) was used to prepare masa and tortillas. In this study, the effect of average particle size, moisture, and the final temperature on the physicochemical properties of masa and tortillas elaborated from OHICF was evaluated and were compared with flour obtained by the traditional process instant corn flours (TPICF). The results show that the final temperature and the moisture were the variables that affected the viscosity of OHICF. When comparing the quality of the tortillas obtained from the OHICF and TPICF; OHICF gave soft tortillas with higher yield than the TPICF. This was because the pericarp of the corn grain is not lost during processing which acts as natural gums. The ohmic heating has a great potential to be used in the industry of the flours snap shots of maize, with the advantage of being a friendly technology with the environment.

Key words: Ohmic heating, instant corn flour, nixtamalization, masa, tortilla.