Abstract
The mass transfer characters were quantitatively investigated during osmotic dehydration of Musa acuminata slices using response surface methodology with sugar concentration of 30-50 oBrix, temperature of 30-50℃, osmotic dehydration time of 30-180 minutes and sample to solution ratio of 1:5-1:15 g/ml as the independent process variables. Quadratic regression equations were obtained to describe the effects of independent process variables on the weight reduction (WR), solid gain (SG) and water loss (WL). From the results, it was found that, all the independent variables had significant effect on mass transfer characteristics during osmotic dehydration of banana slices. The optimal condition for osmotic dehydration of M.acuminata slices was found to be: osmotic solution concentration of 43oBrix, sample to solution ratio of 1:10 g/ml, osmotic solution temperature of 50℃ and osmotic dehydration time of 164 minutes respectively.
Highlights
The fruits and vegetables are inevitable part of the diet of humankind as they are considered to be the prime source of carbohydrates, indigestible minerals, essential amounts of vitamins and calories which provide the nutritional values for body building and wellness of the human beings (Salunke et al, 1991)
Among the various processing and preservation techniques employed to enhance the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, osmotic dehydration (OD) is one of the simple, low cost and energy efficient method based on the removal of natural water content from fruits and vegetables by immersing them in n hypertonic osmotic solutions prepared with sugars, salts, alcohols and starch solutions (Erle & Schubert, 2001; Azuara & Beristain, 2002)
The results revealed that, increase in the immersion time of the sample in the osmotic solution upto 140 minutes caused an improvement in the mass transfer parameters of the samples (Fig.2)
Summary
The fruits and vegetables are inevitable part of the diet of humankind as they are considered to be the prime source of carbohydrates, indigestible minerals, essential amounts of vitamins (especially vitamins A and C) and calories which provide the nutritional values for body building and wellness of the human beings (Salunke et al, 1991). Among the various processing and preservation techniques employed to enhance the shelf life of fruits and vegetables, osmotic dehydration (OD) is one of the simple, low cost and energy efficient method based on the removal of natural water content from fruits and vegetables by immersing them in n hypertonic osmotic solutions prepared with sugars, salts, alcohols and starch solutions (Erle & Schubert, 2001; Azuara & Beristain, 2002). The fruit has high nutritional value, rich in starch and sugars. Apart from these, it contains good amount of health benefitting anti-oxidants, vitamins A, C and minerals such as phosphorus, potassium, sodium, calcium and magnesium (Borges, 1997). In this present work, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to determine and optimize the effect of process variables (Osmotic sugar concentration, osmotic solution temperature, immersion time and sample to solution ratio) on the mass transfer characters (weight reduction, solid gain and water loss) during osmotic dehydration of M.acuminata slices
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