Abstract
Pretreatment by reversible electroporation followed by resting (storage under saturated moisture at 21 ± 2 °C) was evaluated for modification of the properties of dried and rehydrated Thai basil leaves. The treated leaves were dried by convection at 40 °C or in a vacuum at room temperature. The results showed that vacuum drying provoked more cell damage and tissue collapse than convective air drying at a moisture ratio (MR) of 0.2 and 0.1. Under this level of MR, the pulsed electric field (PEF) and resting pretreatment exerts a protective effect of the tissue for both drying methods. However, under complete dehydration (water activity, aw = 0.05) damage seems to be similar for both drying methods despite the PEF pretreatment. Remarkably, reversible electroporation followed by resting resulted in higher trichome preservation. At MR of 0.05, the area of trichomes on the surface of convective-dried, PEF-rested and fresh samples were not statistically different at 2267 ± 89 µm2 and 2218 ± 65 µm2, respectively, showing that this pretreatment still exerts a protective effect on trichomes when complete dehydration is achieved.
Highlights
A pulsed electric field (PEF) has been used as pretreatment to increase the rate of mass transfer during drying of foodstuffs such as vegetables, meat, fruit, and herbs [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]
Telfser and Gómez Galindo [12] evaluated the effects of reversible electroporation on the structure, rehydration capacity, color, and sensory quality of basil leaves dried using convective drying at 40 ◦C, vacuum drying, and freeze-drying
The authors found that reversible electroporation causing stomatal opening of sweet basil leaves reduced the drying time in all studied drying methods, and PEF resulted in better preservation of the leaf structure when used prior to convective and vacuum drying, as compared to the untreated control
Summary
A pulsed electric field (PEF) has been used as pretreatment to increase the rate of mass transfer during drying of foodstuffs such as vegetables, meat, fruit, and herbs [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. The majority of these PEF applications were designed to cause irreversible electroporation of cells, which would greatly increase mass transfer but result in numerous changes in food quality, including aroma, color, and texture [4]. Telfser and Gómez Galindo [12] evaluated the effects of reversible electroporation on the structure, rehydration capacity, color, and sensory quality of basil leaves dried using convective drying at 40 ◦C, vacuum drying, and freeze-drying. The authors found that reversible electroporation causing stomatal opening of sweet basil leaves reduced the drying time in all studied drying methods, and PEF resulted in better preservation of the leaf structure when used prior to convective and vacuum drying, as compared to the untreated control. Maintenance of cell integrity after rehydration would allow keeping the fresh characteristics of the product
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