Physicochemical properties of whole fruit plum powders obtained using different drying technologies

Publication date: 15 September 2016 Source:Food Chemistry, Volume 207 Author(s): Anna Michalska, Aneta Wojdyło, Krzysztof Lech, Grzegorz P. Łysiak, Adam Figiel Physicochemical quality parameters of plum powders obtained by applying conventional drying methods and their combination devised to process plums were evaluated. The effect of freeze-drying (FD), vacuum drying (VD), convective drying (CD), microwave-vacuum drying (MVD) and combination of convective pre-drying and microwave finish-drying (CPD-MVFD) affected physical (bulk density, porosity, colour, solubility) and chemical properties (polyphenolic compounds determined by UPLC and antioxidant capacity by TEAC ABTS and FRAP methods) of plum powders. The MVD at 1.2Wg−1 and a novel combination for plum powders production – CPD-MVFD at 70°C/1.2Wg−1 allowed the best preservation of phenolic compounds and increased the efficiency of production. Results obtained support the use of MVD and its combination for better quality of dried plum products. The study proved that the determination of the browning index and HMF level (formed via Maillard reaction) might be good tool for monitoring the thermal processing of plum powders.
Source: Food Chemistry - Category: Food Science Source Type: research