Effect of Drying on Nutritional Profile of Fruit Leathers

Abstract

The effect of hot air drying on nutritional profile of fruit leathers will help in redefining the importance as a nutritionally concentrated snack. The mango, strawberry fruit pulp was dehydrated at 40, 50, 60, 70ºC in cabinet dryer to standardize the drying temperature with respect to quality attributes. The drying rate curves at mentioned drying air temperature showed that 60ºC drying air temperature was suitable for obtaining good sensory quality dried leather with end moisture content of 16 to 19% for a drying period of 7 hours. Therefore, 60oC temperature was selected for nutritional profiling of fruit pulp vs fruit leather. The proximate composition of mango and strawberry leather (carbohydrate- 58.26/ 73.31%, protein- 1.58/2.95%, Ash- 1.98/2.11%, dietary fibre- 14.06/17.13%) was found to be superior compared to their fruit pulps (carbohydrate- 14.39/11.12%, protein- 0.61/2.64%, crude fibre-0.79/2.9%, ash-0.52/0.51%).