Dependence of degradation of anthocyanins on non-uniformity of microwave heating in blueberry puree

Abstract

To clarify the dependence of anthocyanins degradation on the non-uniformity of microwave heating in blueberry puree, the effects of temperature and moisture content distribution on the content of anthocyanins in blueberry were investigated. The temperature dispersion value (VT), moisture dispersion value (VM), temperature contrast value (CON), the highest temperature (MAX) and hot zone distribution (HTD) were introduced to evaluate the heating uniformity of blueberry puree during microwave heating. The Weibull model can characterize the distribution of anthocyanins content in blueberry puree as the function of the temperature and moisture under microwave heating. The degradation of anthocyanins in blueberry puree has the high dependency on non-uniformity in HTD, MAX, and VT inside blueberry puree under microwave heating. These research results may provide guidance for the quality control of berry products under microwave processing.