Volume 13, Issue 7 -

The influence of drying on the color, porosity, shrinkage and moisture of persimmon fruit during convective drying was determined by computer vision. The experiments were performed with persimmon fruit that were cut into slab 20 × 20 mm, which were arranged into a bigger slab, 60 × 60 mm. Drying process was carried out at 60 °C. Noticeable changes in quality parameters (color, porosity and shrinkage) could be observed during the drying process, where the central region of the sample evidenced less changes. Persimmon’s physical properties were experimentally obtained as the temperature function and heat and mass convective coefficients were adjusted as a time function. A numerical simulation using the Finite Volume Method allowed to describe the evolution of temperature and moisture content distributions during drying. The numerical and experimental results of temperature and moisture during persimmon drying were found to be in a good agreement.

The aim of this study was to select an appropriate drying technique from air-impingement jet drying (AIJD), hot air drying (HAD) and microwave drying (MWD) which can be combined with freeze drying (FD). Results showed that AIJD with relatively high efficiency, low energy consumption and good drying quality was suitable to be combined with FD. To further improve the drying technology of kiwifruits, the energy consumption and quality of dried kiwifruit with different conversion point during combined FD and AIJD were also tested. The energy consumption obtained for AIJD+FD and FD+AIJD was lower than that obtained for FD alone. Among the products, the kiwifruit processed by AIJD+FD not only showed better attractive green colour and higher sweetness perception, but also revealed higher rehydration ratio than FD and FD+AIJD kiwifruits, which was positively related to microstructure changes. The best AIJD+FD process, from nutrient retention and antioxidant activity considerations, was the combination of 65 min AIJD pre-drying and FD finish drying. Therefore, AIJD pre-drying and FD finish drying as a promising way with short drying time and strong nutrient retention capacity may be applied to the drying processing of agricultural products.

The present work aimed at studying the mass transfer properties of two plant foods, kiwi (a fruit) and eggplant (a vegetable). For this convective drying experiments were conducted at different temperatures (from 50 to 80 ºC) and an air flow rate of 0.5 m/s, using slices with 6 mm thickness for both products. For the mathematical modelling two different methods were used, one based on the thin layer model and the other based on the Fick’s second law of diffusion. The results obtained allowed concluding that different methodologies allowed to obtain different values of the mass transfer properties, so care must be taken when choosing an appropriate calculation method. Regarding the values of diffusivity and mass transfer coefficient, in all cases they were found to increase with increasing operating temperature. Both the activation energy and the activation energy for convective mass transfer were similar for kiwi and for eggplant, indicating that both foods behave in a very similar way when exposed to the drying conditions tested.

Turbot is a valuable commercial species because of its high nutrition content. Water redistribution during heating was attributed to temperature-induced protein denaturation and structural shrinkage. Therefore, knowledge about water dynamics provides valuable information related to flesh physical properties (weight loss, color and shear force). Herein, water dynamics in turbot during baking and microwave heating were elucidated by using low field nuclear magnetic resonance (LF-NMR) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Four distinct water populations with relaxation times of 0.20–0.60 ms, 2.00–6.00 ms, 30.00–60.00 ms, and 250.00–560.00 ms were identified. The dramatic variation of water populations during baking and microwave heating indicated protein denaturation and structural shrinkage, which was further verified by MRI and microscopic examination. Furthermore, good linear correlations were observed between NMR parameters and weight loss, color and shear force. The results revealed that the water mobility and distribution in turbot provided valuable information for quality analysis during baking and microwave heating.

Liquefaction of sugar beet pulp (SBP) was carried out using microwave irradiation as the heating source, ethylene glycol/glycerol at a ratio of 80/20 (w/w) as the liquefaction solvent and sulfuric acid as the catalyst at 160 °C. The effects of different liquefaction conditions, including two particle size ranges of SBP, liquefying solvent-to-SBP solids (LS/S) ratio and reaction time on the liquefaction yield, viscosity of the liquefaction products, chemical characteristics and morphology of residues were studied using viscometry, Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electronic microscopy (SEM). The efficiency of liquefaction of SBP was found to depend on its particle size of SBP raw material and the LS/S ratio. The smaller SBP particles improved liquefaction efficiency and reduced the amount of solvent required. The crystallinity index of liquefaction residues indicated that crystalline cellulose was no longer the rate limiting factor of liquefaction process when the particle size of SBP was small (75–177 μm). A rugged and deformed surface of the liquefaction residue (observed through SEM) indicated that severe damage in the native fiber structure occurred during the liquefaction.

In this paper, white radish discs were dried in superheated steam at absolute pressure 95 mbar at four levels of drying temperature from 75 °C to 90 °C. The drying kinetics and various quality attributes of white radish were investigated, compared with the results by vacuum drying. By kinetic modeling of drying processes with Fick’s second law, low pressure superheated steam drying (LPSSD) had slightly lower value of effective moisture diffusivity but higher activation energy than vacuum drying. In comparison with vacuum drying, the rehydration capability of dried samples by LPSSD was better due to porous microstructure. Only 25 % or more the total amount of Vitamin C was preserved after drying to the ultimate moisture content, but it was found that some amount of Vitamin C was taken with the exhaust steam and preserved in the condensate.

The aim of this study is to find a better drying method to replace conventional hot air drying (HAD) in terms of faster, energy efficient and better product quality. Two alternative drying techniques, microwave combined with hot air drying (MHD) and microwave vacuum drying (MVD), are compared in this study to dry peeled and destoned longan fruit. Both MHD and MVD reduced the drying time up to 48 % and energy consumption as compared to HAD. These techniques provided lower product redness, yellowness and shrinkage but higher lightness and porous structure as compared to HAD. MVD reduced hardness and toughness of the dried product. MHD provided the highest preference score in terms of colour and shape and was as acceptable as the commercial product dried by HAD. MHD is the most suitable method for longan drying.

Polysaccharides from Zizyphus jujube cv. Muzao (ZMP) were extracted by ultrasonic-assisted extraction with acidic buffer. The chemical composition and antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities of ZMP were evaluated. The results revealed that ZMP had a molecular weight of 89.90 kDa and consisted of arabinose, galactose, glucose, rhamnose, and mannose, with molar percentages of 4.52 %, 2.64 %, 1.04 %, 0.49 %, and 0.41 %, respectively. Based on Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy, ZMP belonged to the type I rhamnogalacturonans family. In vitro antioxidants assays revealed that ZMP had remarkable antioxidant activity in a dose-dependent manner. Proinflammatory cytokines, such as interleukin-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha, were suppressed by ZMP in lipopolysaccharide-treated RAW264.7 cells. Overall, the results revealed that ZMP has potential applications as a natural anti-inflammatory agent.

This work fractionated native wheat starches into A- and B-type granules fractions to accurately assess granules physicochemical properties and effects on water distribution, storage modulus (E′) and loss modulus (E″) of two type noodles with A- and B-type granules. Pasting viscosity and starch crystallization of A- and B-type granules were determined by Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) respectively. The noodles were prepared from wheat flour, which 20 % was replaced with the A or B starch fractions, respectively. The water distribution and dynamic mechanical properties of noodles were characterized through Low-field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (LF-NMR) and Dynamic Mechanical Analysis (DMA). The results demonstrated that A- and B-type granules almost had a round shape with smooth surface. The crystal models of A- and B-type granules were the same but the relative crystallinity were different. A-type granules contained higher starch content, higher ratio between amylose and amylopectin and less damaged starch than B-type granules. B-type granules easily aggregated into clump in deionized water. A- and B-type granules were different in swelling properties and pasting viscosity under the same conditions. A-type granules possessed lower swelling power and water-binding capacity, higher solubility and pasting viscosity than B-type granules. A-noodles (relative to B-noodles) had higher ratio of immobilized water, E′ and E″.

Tuna by-products were subjected to enzymatic hydrolysis with Alcalase (enzyme to substrate ratio 1 : 200 w/w; 60 °C; pH 6.5, 120 min) rendering a tuna protein hydrolysate (TPH) with 9.24 % degree of hydrolysis (DH). The antioxidant capacity of TPH determined by the methods of ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) were similar and 10 times lower than the result obtained by oxygen radical absorbance capacity (ORAC). The total amino acid profile indicated that 42.15 % are composed of hydrophobic amino acids and 7.7 % of aromatics, with leucine being found in the highest quantity (17.85 %). The fatty acid profile of the oil recovered by centrifugation of the TPH – as determined by a gas chromatograph – was characterized by a high percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) (39.06 %), mainly represented by the fatty acids ω3, docosahexaenoic acid (27.15 %) and eicosapentaenoic acid (6.05 %). The simultaneous recovery of unsaturated fatty acids and antioxidant peptides can add value to tuna by-products, assisting in the efficient management of fishing industry waste.