Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

Background. Locally produced and domestically processed intact real foods such as potatoes are considered good choices to maintain food security and sustainability. In Indonesia, potato processing begins on the farm with grading that is done visually based on size and dimensions. Unfortunately, the nutritional properties of graded potatoes and their processing performance under domestic processing techniques – namely steaming, baking, and microwave heating – has not been widely studied. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the nutri­tional properties and the performance under steaming, baking, and microware heating of Indonesia MZ potatoes.
Material and methods. After being graded, cleaned, and sorted, MZ potatoes were characterized by weight, dimension, color distribution, and chemical properties. The processing time under steaming, baking, and microwave heating techniques was then optimized. Subsequently, the processed potatoes were characterized by their chemical, textural and starch hydrolysis properties. The data were analyzed by means of analysis of variance, but the weight, dimensions and color distribution of the raw potatoes were analyzed by means of principal component analysis.
Results. The results revealed that commercial grading does affect potato weight and dimensions but does not affect chemical properties. Regarding processing, the greater the size of the potato, the longer the time re­quired to process it, regardless of the techniques. At a given commercial grade, the processing time was found to be longest for steaming, followed by baking and then microwave heating. Processing techniques had an impact on the starch hydrolysis of all grades, the protein content of B, D, E grades, and the moisture content of C, D, and E grades. Hence, the smaller the potato, the more susceptible it is to processing. The processing techniques had an effect on the hardness of grades D and E, and the gumminess of grade E.
Conclusion. These findings contribute to a deeper understanding of how potato size, grading, and processing methods collectively influence their nutritional attributes and textural properties, providing valuable insights for both the agricultural and food processing industries.