Microwave thermal shocking assisted pistachios splitting mouth

Abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of microwave thermal shocking on cracking pistachio’s mouth.  A hundred closed nuts were soaked in water for 5 to 24 hours at different temperatures from 0ºC to 25ºC and then shocked thermally for creaking by microwave irradiation.  Results showed that in 540W power and higher all 100 pistachios were split.  The cracking started after 6 min and all 100 pistachios were split after 16 min microwave irradiation in 540, 720 and 900 W if the nuts were soaked for 5 hours in 25ºC water before.

Keywords: microwave thermal shocking, splitting mouth, pistachios