Drying of fruits: improvement of quality and process modelling

Abstract

In the recent years, dehydrated food industry has gained prominence in the world. In concern with increasing demand of high quality and healthy products and changing customer behaviour, the food market needs to maintain at a high level nutritional and sensory properties of the initial fresh products. Drying of fruits and vegetables enables the availability of these products on the global markets during all seasons. The aim of this research wasto investigate the effects of different pretreatments (i.e natural - innovative dipping solutions, microwave and ultrasound applications) and hot air drying process conditions on the drying characteristics and quality propertiesof selected fruits in terms of colour, shrinkage, total phenolics, antioxidant activity, volatile aroma compounds, microstructure, texture, preliminary sensorial evaluation, rehydration behaviour. .. [edited by the Author]