Almond quality is affected by moisture and temperature exposure post-harvest. Moisture exposure &gt; 6% can result in a quality defect termed concealed damage (CD), which is a brown discoloration of the nutmeat after moderate to high heat treatments (roasting, blenching, etc.). Current industrial practice for reducing moisture in almonds prior to processing, is to apply low heat to in-hull almonds until a moisture content of ~6% is achieved. Drying is used to reduce the visual discoloration of the nutmeat however the quality storage lifetime of these almonds is unknown. To address this, almonds exposed to moisture (ME, ≥ 8%), and subsequently dried to ≤ 6% moisture, were roasted to give either light roast or dark roast almonds. Raw and roasted almonds were held under accelerated shelf-life conditions that promote rancidity development and evaluated over 12 months. Peroxide value (PV), free fatty acid value (FFA), conjugated dienes (CD), and headspace volatiles, were evaluated. Results demonstrate that there is a significant difference between the ME almond and non-ME almond over time. A significant difference was observed between light roast and dark roast almonds with storage. Additionally, differences between the quality of ME and non-ME almonds were observed over accelerated shelf-life.<br/>

Quality assessment of moisture exposed almonds using chemical markers

255th National Meeting (2018)

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