Sepideh Hosseinzadeh - MA Student, Department of Food Science and Technology, Islamic Azad University, Damghan, Iran
Seyed Ahmed Shaheed - Assistant Professor, Department of Food Science and Technology, Islamic Azad University, AyatollahAmoli, Amol, Iran

This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different frying conditions on oil content and moisture of fried zucchini, and the impactof osmotic dehydration process before frying on final reduction of oil absorption in fried zucchini and its qualitative characteristics. For thispurpose, osmotic dehydration of samples was conducted at two levels of 20 and 25% of salt solution at temperatures of 20 and 40°C togetherwith the control sample. Zucchinis were fried after initial treatment at temperatures of 150, 170 and 190°C in three replications. Using dataanalysis by statistical equations, the most suitable conditions for processing fried zucchini in this study was determined as fryingtemperature of170°C, salt water concentration of25%, and osmotic dehydration temperature of 40°C. In terms of color changes, increasinga and reducing L led to a desirable golden color in the fried product. The results of this study suggest that by using osmotic dehydration withsalt-water solution as a pre-process, a better product with less oil and more desired color can be achieved

Deep frying, zucchini, osmotic dehydration, color changes, oil absorption