Effects of drying conditions on energy consumption and the nutritional and organoleptic quality of dried bananas

Publication date: Available online 7 October 2019Source: Journal of Food EngineeringAuthor(s): Essohouna Takougnadi, Tcha-Esso Tchamye Boroze, Ouézou Yaovi AzoumaAbstractThis work has aimed to determine the conditions of energy efficiency that best preserve a good nutritional and organoleptic quality of the product during drying. For this purpose, banana slices 5 mm thick were dried at temperatures of 45, 55 and 65 °C under air flow rates of 20, 24, and 28 dm3/s. The drying kinetics were corrected by taking into account the contraction. Reduced critical water content obtained varies between 0.20 and 0.30. During the constant rate drying phase, drying at 65 °C with an air flow rate of 24 dm3/s is the most energy efficient process. Nutritional Analysis shows that fat, reducing sugars and vitamin C are the most sensitive to drying with losses respectively up to 79.55%, 55.81% and 37%, 61%. The sensory assessment shows that the drying at 65 °C limit the enzymatic browning at the beginning of drying and allows to obtain a dry product of better organoleptic quality.

Source: Journal of Food Engineering - October 8, 2019 Category: Food Science Source Type: research