Abstract:In this study, sliced potatoes (SP) pretreated with acetic acid and calcium chloride was considered as a strategy to enhance the textural characteristic of SP after thermal processing. Base on the single factor test, the variation of hardness of SP after thermal processing was used as the response value. In order to acquire optimal formula of pretreatment for SP, the response surface design was used. The optimal parameters for enhancing the hardness of SP were determined as follows: 7 mL/L of acetic acid, 1 mg/L of calcium chloride, and 10.5 h of soaking time. Scanning electron microscopy observed that SP had gone through a severe cell separation after hot processing, while the pre-treatment of SP with acetic acid and calcium chloride still showed a cell integrity after hot processing. Nevertheless, acetic acid could effectively help the the entry of calcium ion into the intercellular space?of SP. The results further revealed the mechanism behind the observation of hardness improvement of SP after pretreatment with combined application of acetic acid and calcium chloride, which also providing a strategy for the processing of instant SP with various flavor.