Apricot is one of the fruits dried by using different methods, such as sun, convective or microwave drying. The effects of drying methods on the components of this fruit differ depending upon the temperature or time parameters. In this research, the impacts of convective, microwave and microwave-convective drying techniques on color, β-carotene, minerals and antioxidant activity of apricots were investigated. The color values (L*, b*, ΔE ab, h° and C* ab ) of dried fruit were decreased, while the a* values increased. Compared with a fresh sample, the dried apricots showed a 1.4-3.9-fold proportional increase in β-carotene based on the increment of dry matter. The samples dried at high temperature and microwave levels, at 75 °C+90 watt and 75 °C+160 watt, showed lower antioxidant activity. Df the different drying treatments, the microwave-convective method (50 °C+160 watt) obtained a higher β-carotene content while maintaining antioxidant activity with a short drying time.Keywords: apricot; drying; color; β-carotene; antioxidant activity.Practical Application: This paper presents different drying methods of apricots in addition to optimization of the power level and temperature conditions. These methods make it possible to select the best way to provide high quality and nutritional dried apricots.

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Chestnut is a fruit mainly consumed in the fresh form with the preferred cooking methods like boiling or roasting then peeling the shell and consuming the nutmeat (Mert & Ertürk, 2017). In addition, fresh chestnuts can be chilled then used up in all seasons. Furthermore, the food industry uses many techniques to process chestnuts, and the confectionery method is the most widely applied one as well as chestnut flakes, chestnut puree, cream, and flour products (Piccolo et al., 2020;Sacchetti et al., 2005;Zhu, 2016). In candied chestnut production, small size fruits are removed from the processing line as they are not suitable for production. At this point, pickling appears to be a promising processing technique to increase its added value for small-size chestnuts.Turkey is one of the main substantial centers for chesnut production and is an important country for both horticulture and chestnut

The effects of microwave (90 and 180 W), hot air (60 and 70°C) and vacuum (60 and 70°C with 250 mbar) drying techniques on drying characteristics, total phenolic content (TPC), antioxidant capacity (AC), color and texture of mulberry pestils were investigated. L*, b*, C*, and h° decreased while a* value was generally increased in pestils. Hardness, springiness, chewiness, and gumminess of the samples were found to be significantly different (p < 0.05). Between the applied seven thin layer drying models, Page and Modified Page were best fitted with the highest R2 (0.9997) and the lowest values of RMSE (0.000927) and χ2 (0.000011). Effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) of pestils ranged from 4.42 × 10−8 to 8.47 × 10−7 m2/s. Drying treatments caused an increment in TPC (1.41%–57.13%) and AC (0.37%–72.79%). These highest results were both obtained from microwave 180 W (TPC: 209.14 mg GAE/100 g dw and AC: 181.37 μmol TE/100 g dw). Practical applications Mulberry is a perishable fruit with several health benefits. It can be consumed raw or in the form of fruit leather (pestil), jam, jelly, marmalade. By pestil production, in which fruit pulp is dehydrated into leathery sheets, mulberry can be processed into a nonseasonal shelf life prolonged product for markets without the additon of preservatives. In this study, drying kinetics of mulberry pestil by microwave, hot air, and vacuum methods were evaluated via mathematical modeling. Page and Modified Page were the best thin layer drying models for pestil production. Drying characteristics were assessed for the development of food specific system in industrial usage and the simulation and optimization of the drying process. Drying treatmens affected texture and color of pestils significantly while exerting higher total phenolic content and antioxidant capacity when compared to non‐dried formulation. Microwave was determined as a promising method to yield high‐quality pestils with greater nutritional properties and the advantage of reduced drying times.