Effect of the moisture equilibrium process on the expansion behavior of instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) drying of dried apple cubes

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Recently, consumers' demand on high quality dried fruit or vegetable products have increased dramatically. The instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) dried products have attracted consumers' attention due to its unique sensory characteristics. The product quality, especially the appearance quality of the DIC products, is influenced closely by water status and water distribution in the material, which is rarely reported in the literatures. In this study, a comparison system for the apple cubes with or without the moisture equilibrium process (MEP) was established to explain the effect of the MEP on the expansion behavior of the DIC dried apple cube. RESULTS:The results showed that the MEP could induce a more homogenous spatial distribution of water in the semi-dried apple cube after pre-drying. Meanwhile, the MEP treated and DIC dried apple cubes showed better quality in terms of the appearance and texture properties including high porosity (71.77%), large pores (maximum pore size of 1.55 mm), and thin pore walls (pore wall thickness of 0.079 mm). CONCLUSION: The MEP was approved to be a compulsory treatment to achieve the DIC dried apple cubes with good expansion behavior.

Modeling mass transfer during osmodehydration of apple cubes with sucrose or apple juice concentrate solutions: Equilibrium estimation, diffusion model, and state observer‐based approach

“…The dimensions of the osmodehydrated cubes were determined by the direct measurement method (Li et al, 2020). The length (of three sides of the cube) from the apex to the corresponding parallel centerline was measured with a digital caliper (Truper, model CALDI‐MP, Mexico).…”

“…Relevant characteristics of the obtained perimeter were calculated with the average perimeter of six samples following the methodology by González‐Pérez et al (2019). Food cubes shrinkage analysis during osmotic dehydration experiments was performed by studying the dimensionless characteristic length (sample length at a certain immersion time/characteristic length of the fresh cube, ) as a function of the immersion time (Li et al, 2020). The dimensionless characteristic length was estimated with the cross‐sectional area of each sample and was modeled using Equation (4).…”

An Overview on Food Applications of the Instant Controlled Pressure-Drop Technology, an Innovative High Pressure-Short Time Process

“…One of the most studied swell-drying fruits has been apple (Malus domestica) [21][22][23][24][25][26]. Generally, the initial water content of this fruit ranges from 4 to 7 g H 2 O/g db (dry basis) (80% to 87.5% wet basis).…”

Numerical simulation of DIC drying process on matlab distributed computing server

“…The instant pressure drop results in volume expansion or texture modification [3]. The DIC technique is used for drying fruits and vegetables, cereal steaming and essential oils extraction [4][5][6][7][8].…”