Sorption comparative study of nectarine powder and flour mixtures with its participation

Abstract

The current paper presented the sorption comparative study of nectarine powder and four mixtures with its participation. Four mixtures were made replacing 30% of the basic flour (white wheat, whole wheat, einkorn, and oat) with nectarine fruit powder of Bulgarian origin. Sorption characteristics were done at temperatures 10°C, 25°C, and 40°C, and the water activities (aw) in the interval 0.112 to 0.868 by the gravimetric-static method. For all compared products, augmentation in the temperature leads to a diminution in the sorption capacity. Using the statistical software “Statistica”, it was evaluated four models of Oswin, Chung-Pfost, Henderson, and Halsey. According to the obtained coefficients of each model and the criteria – P and SEM, the most appropriate model is the Halsey (for nectarine powder, white wheat, whole wheat, and einkorn mixtures). The Oswin model was suggested for the satisfactory description of the oat flour mixture with nectarine powder. The results showed that the monolayer moisture content varied in the large limits from 5.78% d.b. to 11.38% d.b. for water activities below 0.5.