Evaluation of Indian and exotic potato cultivars for processing into French fries*

Nine Indian and five exotic potato cultivars grown under short day conditions were evaluated for processing into French fries and for certain important physico-chemical characters of potatoes influencing processing. Dry matter content of the exotic cultivars varied from 20.1–23.2% as against 16.7–20.7% in Indian cultivars. The reducing sugar content of the exotic cultivars was very low (72–112 mg/100 g fresh weight) in comparison to the Indian cultivars (164–332 mg/100 g fresh weight). Glucose constituted the major fraction of reducing sugars in all the cultivars. Total losses during French fries processing ranged between 14.0–16.8% in exotic cultivars as against 12.6–21.2% in Indian cultivars. Fresh French fries prepared from all the exotic cultivars were light in colour with mealy texture, while those from Indian cultivars exhibited light to medium brown colour and variable texture. Among Indian cultivars, only 6 produced French fries of acceptable mealy texture, while 3 cultivars viz. Kufri Badshah, Kufri Bahar and Kufri Jawahar produced unacceptable fries having soggy to pasty texture. Yield recovery on fresh weight basis ranged from 45.6–48.8% in exotic and 44.8–50.7% in Indian cultivars. Based on colour, texture and yield of French fries, Kufri Lauvkar among Indian and FL 1533, FL 1625 and Atlantic among exotic cultivars were considered most suitable for processing into French fries.