Green alternative methods for pretreatment of whole jujube before the drying process

Cold Plasma as a Novel Pretreatment to Improve the Drying Kinetics and Quality of Green Peas

Green peas, with their high moisture content, require effective drying techniques to extend shelf life while preserving quality. Traditional drying methods face challenges due to the dense structure of the seed coat and wax layer, which limits moisture migration. This study investigates cold plasma (CP) pretreatment as a novel approach to enhance drying kinetics and maintain the quality attributes of green peas. The results showed that CP treatment significantly improves drying efficiency by modifying the pea epidermis microstructure, reducing drying time by up to 18.18%. The moisture effective diffusivity coefficients (Deff) for untreated and CP-pretreated green peas were calculated to range from 5.9629 to 9.9172 × 10-10 m2·s-1, with CP pretreatment increasing Deff by up to 66.31% compared to the untreated group. Optimal CP parameters (90 s, 750 Hz frequency, 70% duty cycle) were found to improve the rehydration ratio, preserve color, and increase total phenolic content (TPC) by 24.06%, while enhancing antioxidant activity by 29.64%. Microstructural changes, including pore formation and increased surface roughness, as observed through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), partially explain the enhanced moisture diffusion, improved rehydration, and alterations in nutrient content. These findings underscore the potential of CP technology as a non-thermal, eco-friendly pretreatment for drying agricultural products, with broad applications in food preservation and quality enhancement.

Sea Buckthorn Pretreatment, Drying, and Processing of High-Quality Products: Current Status and Trends

Sea buckthorn is a kind of berry rich in nutritional and industrial value. Due to its thin skin, juicy pulp, and short shelf life, it is usually preserved via freezing methods or directly processed into sea buckthorn puree after harvest. It can also be dried and processed into products such as dried sea buckthorn fruit, freeze-dried sea buckthorn powder, and sea buckthorn oil. This review, therefore, provides an overview of the existing state of drying and high-quality processing of sea buckthorn. The effects of different pretreatment and drying techniques on the drying characteristics and quality of sea buckthorn and the existing problems of superior-quality processing of sea buckthorn products are summarised. The development trend of sea buckthorn drying methods and the ways to achieve high-quality processing of sea buckthorn products are indicated. These ways are mainly related to the following: (1) The application of combined pretreatment and drying techniques to find a balance between economy, ecology, and efficiency; (2) Introducing new online measurement and control technology into drying equipment; (3) Optimising the existing process to form a complete sea buckthorn industrial chain and develop the sea buckthorn deep-processing industry.

Ultrasound-assisted ascorbic acid solution pretreated hot-air drying improves drying characteristics and quality of jujube slices

BACKGROUND

The effective hot-air drying of foods such as jujube requires an effective green pretreatment alternative to chemical pretreatments. Jujube slices were pretreated using 5 and 10 mg mL^-1 ultrasound-assisted vitamin C (UVC) for 10, 20, and 30 min, followed by hot-air drying.

RESULTS

Ultrasound-assisted vitamin C pretreatment for 10, 20, and 30 min modulated the characteristics of fresh jujube slices such as water loss (from -28.25% to -25.52% after 30 min of UVC pretreatment), solid gain (from -31.68% to -26.82% after 30 min of UVC pretreatment), loss of total and reducing sugars (from 200.25 mg and 34.88 mg to 287.14 mg and 4.71 mg, respectively, after 30 min of UVC pretreatment), total soluble solids (from 76.32 ^o Brix to 82.08 ^o Brix), and water diffusivity (from 9.01 × 10^-10  m²  s^-1 to 6.71 × 10^-10  m²  s^-1 ). These characteristics were associated with altered surface morphology and improved drying characteristics. The UVC pretreatment preserved an acceptable reddish-yellow or orange-like color during hot-air drying and reduced the browning index from 26.3 optical density (OD)/g DM to 23.25 OD/g dry mass basis (DM), which was connected with reduced 5-hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) content. On the other hand, the proportions of bioactive components such as vitamin C increased from 1.05 mg g^-1 DM to 9.02 mg g^-1 DM, phenolics increased from 12.8 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g DM to 17.5 mg GAE/g DM, flavonoids increased from 4.0 mg rutin equivalent (RE)/g DM to 4.4 mg RE/g DM, and procyanidin content increased from 2.0 mg catechin equivalents (CE)/g DM to 2.9 mg CE/g DM in UVC pretreated jujube slices, which had a positive association with increased antioxidant activity - for example, 2,2'-azino-bis(3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulfonic acid (ABTS) increased from IC₅₀ 22.5 mg DM/mL to 8.0 mg DM/mL, 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) changed from IC₅₀ 36.5 mg DM/mL to 9.5 mg DM/mL, and ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) increased from 2.0 mg vitamin C equivalent (VCE)/g DM to 11.9 mg VCE/g DM).

CONCLUSION

The data indicated that UVC can be used as a promising pretreatment method for improving the hot-air drying characteristics and the quality of jujube slices. © 2023 Society of Chemical Industry.

Current and Potential Applications of Atmospheric Cold Plasma in the Food Industry

The cost-effectiveness and high efficiency of atmospheric cold plasma (ACP) incentivise researchers to explore its potentials within the food industry. Presently, the destructive nature of this nonthermal technology can be utilised to inactivate foodborne pathogens, enzymatic ripening, food allergens, and pesticides. However, by adjusting its parameters, ACP can also be employed in other novel applications including food modification, drying pre-treatment, nutrient extraction, active packaging, and food waste processing. Relevant studies were conducted to investigate the impacts of ACP and posit that reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) play the principal roles in achieving the set objectives. In this review article, operations of ACP to achieve desired results are discussed. Moreover, the recent progress of ACP in food processing and safety within the past decade is summarised while current challenges as well as its future outlook are proposed.

Effect of dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) cold plasma-activated water pre-treatment on the drying properties, kinetic parameters, and physicochemical and functional properties of Centella asiatica leaves

Centella asiatica L. (CA) is a medicinal plant that gained significant commercial and research interest because of its bioactive compounds, which have functional properties such as antioxidant activity. However, it must be dried before use to improve its shelf life and prepare it for food and pharmaceutical applications. Therefore, in this investigation CA leaves were pre-treated with blanching and cold plasma activated water (CPAW), followed by recirculatory hot air and vacuum drying at 40, 50, and 60 °C. Vacuum-drying took 150-720 min, while hot-air drying took 60-180 min to dry. Page and Logarithmic models best fit for leaf drying kinetics, according to AIC, with R² between 0.966 and 0.999 and RMSE between 0.001 and 0.069. CPAW pre-treatment increased leaf quality more than blanching in vacuum drying. Drying leaves at 40 °C boosted antioxidants (4021.462 μg TE (g dw)^-1 and 3.356 mg GAEAC (g dw)^-1), TPC (35.049 mg GAE (g dw)^-1), and TFC (311.274 mg QE (g dw)^-1) and is recommended. Vacuum-drying with CPAW pre-treatment preserved leaf microstructure better than hot-air drying. This study illuminates CA leaf drying behaviour and allow mass production without damaging bioactive components. These results could be used as a roadmap for future technological advances that will make it possible to use the bioactive components of CA in food formulation.

Effects of cold plasma, high hydrostatic pressure, ultrasound, and high-pressure carbon dioxide pretreatments on the quality characteristics of vacuum freeze-dried jujube slices

Pretreatment combined with vacuum freeze-drying is an effective technique to extend the storage period of jujube fruits and reduce energy consumption and cost; however, the effects of pretreatment on the quality characteristics of jujube during vacuum freeze-drying remain unknown. In this study, the effects of cold plasma (CP), high hydrostatic pressure (HHP), ultrasound (US), high-pressure carbon dioxide (HPCD), and conventional blanching (BC) as pretreatments on the performance of vacuum freeze-dried jujube slices were investigated. The results indicated that the application of different pretreatments decreased the water activity and increased the rehydration capacity, owing to the pretreatment etching larger and more porous holes in the microstructure. Freeze-dried jujube slices pretreated with HPCD retained most of their quality characteristics (color, hardness, and volatile compounds), followed by the HHP- and US-pretreated samples, whereas samples pretreated with BC showed the greatest deterioration in quality characteristics, and hence, BC is not recommended as a pretreatment for freeze-dried jujube slices. Sensory evaluation based on hedonic analysis showed that jujube slices pretreated with HPCD and US were close to the control sample and scored highest. Compared to other pretreated samples and the control, freeze-dried jujube slices pretreated with HPCD showed the least degradation (4.93%) of cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), the highest contents of total phenol, total flavonoid, and l-ascorbic acid, and the highest antioxidant capacity. Partial least squares-discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was performed to screen all the quality characteristic data of different pretreated samples, and 12 volatile compounds, including ethyl hexanoate and (E)-2-hexenal, along with color, l-ascorbic acid content, and cAMP content were found suitable to be used as discriminators for pretreated freeze-dried jujube slices. Therefore, non-thermal pretreatments, including HPCD, US, and HHP pretreatments, are promising techniques for the vacuum freeze-drying of jujube products.

Recent processing of fruits and vegetables using emerging thermal and non-thermal technologies. A critical review of their potentialities and limitations on bioactives, structure, and drying performance

Fruits and vegetables have rich bioactive compounds and antioxidants that are vital for the human body and prevent the cell from disease-causing free radicals. Therefore, there is a growing demand for high-quality fruits and vegetables. Nevertheless, fruits and vegetables deteriorate due to their high moisture content, resulting in a 40-50% loss. Drying is a common food preservation technique in the food industry to increase fruits and vegetables' shelf-life. However, drying causes chemical modifications, changes in microstructure, and bioactives, thus, lowering the final product's quality as a considerable amount of bioactives compounds and antioxidants are lost. Conventional pretreatments such as hot water blanching, and osmotic pretreatment have improved fruit and vegetable drying performance. However, these conventional pretreatments affect fruits' bioactive compounds retention and microstructure. Hence, emerging thermal (infrared blanching, microwave blanching, and high-humidity hot-air impingement blanching) and non-thermal pretreatments (cold plasma, ultrasound, pulsed electric field, and edible films and coatings) have been researched. So the question is; (1) what are the mechanisms behind emerging non-thermal and thermal technologies' ability to improve fruits and vegetables' microstructure, texture, and drying performance? (2) how do emerging thermal and non-thermal technologies affect fruits and vegetables' bioactive compounds and antioxidant activity? and (3) what are preventing the large-scale commercialization of these emerging thermal and non-thermal technologies' for fruits and vegetables, and what are the future recommendations? Hence, this article reviewed emerging thermal blanching and non-thermal pretreatment technologies, emphasizing their efficacy in improving dried fruits and vegetables' bioactive compounds, structural properties, and drying performance. The fundamental mechanisms in emerging thermal and non-thermal blanching pretreatment methods on the fruits and vegetables' microstructure and drying performance were delved in, as well as what are preventing the large-scale commercialization of these emerging thermal and non-thermal blanching for fruits and vegetables, and the future recommendations. Emerging pretreatment approaches not only improve the drying performance but further significantly improve the retention of bioactive compounds and antioxidants and enhance the microstructure of the dried fruits and vegetables.

Comparative elucidation of bioactive and volatile components in dry mature jujube fruit (Ziziphus jujuba Mill.) subjected to different drying methods

This study investigated the effects of convective drying(CD) and freeze drying(FD) on bioactive and volatile components in jujube. No significant difference in total phenolic, total flavonoids and antioxidant capacity among CD60, CD70, CD80 and FD samples (P > 0.05). LC-MS/MS analysis showed that this trend mainly originated from the dynamic equilibrium relationships between caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid, p-hydroxybenzoic acid, rutin, epicatechin, and quercetin. HS-SPME-GC-MS identified 31 volatile organic compounds (VOCs) comprising more than 80% aldehydes and acids. Principal component analysis distinguished the VOC characteristics of samples subjected to different drying methods. Six VOCs had an odor activity value (OAV) >1, most of which were fatty acid oxidation or Maillard reaction products. Combined with the precursor components, these reactions were speculated to be the major VOC-producing pathways in dried jujube. Considering the bioactive components and flavor retention, CD at 60 °C was an effective drying method with potential to replace FD.