Physical characteristics of pecan components: effect of cultivar and relative humidity

Physical characteristics of pecan nuts describing size, specific gravity, shell thickness, and nutmeat-to-shell ratio are not only quality indicators but are also important for the design of handling and processing equipment for pecans. Length, maximum and minimum diameters, and shell thickness were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inTransactions of the ASAE Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 227 - 231
Main Authors Kotwaliwale, N, Brusewitz, G.H, Weckler, P.R
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published 2004
Subjects
cultivars
dimensions
food processing quality
food quality
food storage
nutmeat to shell ratio
pecan shells
pecans
relative humidity
shell thickness
specific gravity
storage conditions
water content
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Summary:Physical characteristics of pecan nuts describing size, specific gravity, shell thickness, and nutmeat-to-shell ratio are not only quality indicators but are also important for the design of handling and processing equipment for pecans. Length, maximum and minimum diameters, and shell thickness were measured for 30 samples of 'Native-A', 'Native-B', 'Squirrels Delight', and 'Maramek' cultivars equilibrated at 40% and 78% RH. Length of whole pecan nuts varied from 29.3 to 45.2 mm, whereas maximum and minimum diameters around the largest periphery varied from 23.9 to 16.3 and from 21.1 to 10.0 mm, respectively. Specific gravity of pecan nuts, shell, and nutmeat was determined by a water displacement method using a pycnometer bottle. Mean specific gravities were observed to be 0.837 for whole pecan nut, 1.065 for pecan shell, and 0.945 for pecan nutmeat. In general, nutmeat-to-shell ratio was greater than 1.
ISSN:0001-2351
2151-0059
DOI:10.13031/2013.15852