Physiochemical Properties of Different Oil Media during Deep Fat Frying of Akara Chips

The specific objective is to determine the physiochemical characteristics of frying and fresh palm oil, groundnut oil and olive oil under deep fat frying condition at a temperature of 1200 Celsius in the production of akara chips derived from cowpea paste. Standard methods were used in determining physiochemical properties of the different oil samples. The research was carried out in the Department of Agricultural and Bioresources Engineering, Enugu State University of Science and Technology, Agbani Enugu State, Nigeria. The results showed that there was a significant (p< 0.05) variation among the three fresh (palm oil, groundnut oil and olive oil) and frying (palm oil, groundnut oil and olive oil) oil media respectively on the solidification point, iodine concentration, moisture content, melting point, fat levels and viscometric values. Frying reduced the moisture content and iodine value of palm, groundnut and olive oil than the non-frying, Fresh palm oil, groundnut oil and olive oil were high in visocometric and saponification values respectively.