Puncture, MRI and NMR relaxometry data for multiscale analysis of the degradation of apple structure due to thermal treatment

The data presented here are related to the research paper entitled “Multiscale NMR analysis of the degradation of apple structure due to thermal treatment” whose aim was to investigate the critical temperature at which the cell membranes of a Golden Delicious apple is highly damaged. Apple sticks were analyzed raw and cooked at 45, 50, 53, 60 °C and 70 °C. The firmness data refers to the puncture tests that were done using a Ta-Plus texturometer. The nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) relaxometry and imaging data were both acquired with a 9.4 T 400WB instrument. For these three raw data collections, analysis results are also provided. These data are complementary as they cover the different scales from molecular to nearly the whole food system to enlighten the process of membrane degradation during thermal processing of apple. Our NMR data could be reused to optimize inversion algorithms dealing with ill-posed inverse problems. Both firmness and NMR data could be added to databases on food structure studies, either in physico-chemical data handbooks or review studies. Finally, these data could also be reused for the optimization of food thermal processing control.