Effects of pretreatments on properties of microwave-vacuum drying of sweet potato slices

Abstract

Pretreatments of blanching (BL); osmotic dehydration at 35°Brix of sucrose (OD); ultrasound in distilled water (UD), and ultrasound-assisted osmotic dehydration (UO) were carried out for microwave-vacuum drying (MVD) orange- and purple-flesh sweet potato slices, and effects on their properties were investigated in this study. UO had improvements effects on water loss, solid gain, and relaxation time of the samples compared to other pretreatments. Low-field nuclear magnetic resonance results offered a view of water state concerning the effects of different pretreatments on sweet potato. UD treatment following by BL showed a long relaxation time corresponding to the weaker degree of bound hydrogen proton or the greater freedom degree of hydrogen comparing to other pretreated samples. Differential scanning calorimetry parameters appeared to be sensitive to pretreatments by increased Tg value compared to blanched sample. The value of Tg shows that it does not depend only of the water content but also on the experimental conditions (pretreatments). The dried sweet potato exhibited amorphous structures as evidenced by the X-ray diffractograms due to the BL treatment and MVD. Concentration of total phenolics and anthocyanins were high in purple sweet potatoes, whereas content of vitamin C and total carotenoid were high in orange ones. Application of UO is suitable for retention of bioactive compound and stability of MVD sweet potato slices.