Osmotic dehydration of sugar beet in combined aqueous solutions of sucrose and sodium chloride

Mass transfer characteristics during ultrasound-assisted osmotic dehydration of button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus)

Button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus) slices were dehydrated using ultrasound-assisted osmotic dehydration (UOD), and three osmotic agents including sucrose, glucose and sodium chloride were investigated for their effects on the mass transfer characteristics, average density and microstructure. Different mathematical models were selected to describe the osmotic behaviours, and the effective moisture (D _m) as well as solid diffusivities (D _s) during UOD were also calculated. The results showed that, during UOD, button mushrooms had the highest D _m values in the sodium chloride solutions, and they had the highest D _s values in the glucose solutions, which indicated that faster moisture and solid transfers could occur in these two osmotic solutions, respectively. Moreover, the Weibull model provided the best fit for the UOD curves of button mushrooms under the study's operating conditions, which showed good predictability for the moisture and solid contents of the button mushrooms during UOD. In addition, sucrose agents were suggested for use in the UOD of button mushrooms due to the better microstructure of the products as well as the appropriate rates of effective moisture and solid diffusivities during UOD. This study provides a theoretical basis for the deep processing of mushrooms and other food products.

Effect of osmotic dehydration pretreatment and glassy state storage on the quality attributes of frozen mangoes under long-term storage

Changes in the quality of frozen mango cuboids were investigated during long-term glassy state storage with and without osmotic dehydration pretreatment. The mango cuboids were dehydrated in mixed solutions (sucrose: glucose: fructose in a ratio of 3.6:1:3) of different concentrations (30, 40, and 50% (wt/wt)) prior to freezing and then stored at -55 °C (in the glassy state) for 6 months. The results revealed that compared with the untreated samples, osmotic pretreatment decreased total color difference (reduced by 15.6-62.3%), drip loss (reduced by 8.2-29.5%) and titration acidity (reduced by 1.3-9.4%), while increasing hardness (increased by 48.8-82.3%), vitamin C content (increased by 72.5-120.6%) and total soluble solids (increased by 21.8-53.7%) of frozen mangoes after 6 months. Dehydration with a sugar concentration of 40% was considered as the optimal pretreatment condition. In addition, a storage temperature of -55 °C provided better retention of quality than rubbery state storage at -18 °C. With prolonged storage time, the quality of frozen mangoes continued to change, even in the glassy state. However, the changes in quality of the osmotic-dehydrated samples were less than those of the untreated samples. The current work indicates that osmotic pretreatment and glassy state storage significantly improved the quality of frozen mangoes during long-term storage.

Optimization of Osmotic Dehydration of Seedless Guava (Psidium guajava L.) in Sucrose Solution using Response Surface Methodology

In this study, osmotic dehydration of seedless guava was studied through response surface methodology. Seedless guava cubes were dehydrated in sucrose solution at different concentration (30–50% w/w), temperature (30–50°C) and immersion time (15–240 min) with respect to weight reduction, solid gain and water loss. A Box–Behnken design was used to determine the optimum processing conditions that yield maximum weight reduction, water loss and minimum solid gain. The models developed for all responses were significant (p<0.05). The response surface plots were constructed to show the interaction of process variables. Optimum process conditions were found to be sucrose concentration of 33.79% w/w, temperature of 30.00°C and immersion time of 240 min through desirability function method. At these optimum points, weight reduction, solid gain and water loss were found to be 0.189 (gg−1), 0.050 (gg−1) and 0.237 (gg−1), respectively.

Osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables: a review

The main cause of perishability of fruits and vegetables are their high water content. To increase the shelf life of these fruits and vegetables many methods or combination of methods had been tried. Osmotic dehydration is one of the best and suitable method to increase the shelf life of fruits and vegetables. This process is preferred over others due to their vitamin and minerals, color, flavor and taste retention property. In this review different methods, treatments, optimization and effects of osmotic dehydration have been reviewed. Studied showed that combination of different osmotic agents were more effective than sucrose alone due to combination of properties of solutes. During the experiments it was found that optimum osmosis was found at approximately 40 °C, 40 °B of osmotic agent and in near about 132 min. Pretreatments also leads to increase the osmotic process in fruits and vegetables. Mass transfer kinetics study is an important parameter to study osmosis. Solids diffusivity were found in wide range (5.09-32.77 kl/mol) studied by Fick's laws of diffusion. These values vary depending upon types of fruits and vegetables and osmotic agents.