Abstract
Freeze-drying is a dehydration technique which, from a sensory, nutritional and functional point of view, provides high-quality powder products. Nevertheless, both long processing times and high economic costs are required. In this study, pre-drying the samples using hot air or microwave has been considered in order to reduce the initial product's water content thereby shortening the freeze-drying time so as to obtain high value products at a reduced cost. The effect of dehydration pre-treatments on the kinetics, antioxidant activity and solubility of freeze-dried kiwifruit products was evaluated. Nine different thin-layer semi-theoretical models were used to fit the drying data. According to the obtained results, the pre-treated samples exhibited higher drying rates than the fresh sample. In turn, the dehydration pre-treatments used did not affect the solubility or the antioxidant activity of the samples.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 3544-3553 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Food and Bioprocess Technology |
Volume | 6 |
Issue number | 12 |
Early online date | 18 Dec 2012 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2013 |
Keywords
- Antioxidant capacity
- Drying kinetics
- Freeze-drying
- Hot air
- Microwave
- Solubility