Recent developments and trends of instant controlled pressure drop drying-a review

Abstract

Explosion puffing drying (EPD) technology carried out on the expansion of food stuffs can be dated back to 1960s. This technology underwent many modifications with time and developed into instant controlled pressure drop texturing (French for Détente Instantanée Contrôlée, DIC). The principle of DIC is based on a thermomechanical effect induced by an immediate pressure drop from high pressure or ambient pressure to a vacuum, leading to the instant evaporation of water, which results in volume expansion and texture modification. This technology is not only perfectly adapted to produce fruit and vegetable with pleasant texture properties but also applied as a pretreatment to improve the sensory and color characteristics of product. Herein we review the principle of DIC and its current status. Firstly, the principle of DIC, including the basic principle, the mechanism of texture formation and browning reaction during DIC processing were illustrated. Secondly, DIC combined drying technology applied on fruit and vegetable chips were outlined. Then, DIC as a pretreatment for improving the quality properties of foodstuffs was outlined. After that DIC used to extraction, bioethanol production and other applications of DIC were summarized. Finally, future trends of DIC technology were identified and discussed.