Food processing and quality preservation of fruit and their derivatives

What is it about?

Drying is particularly important for handling and distribution of agricultural products with high moisture content and limited shelf-life such as fruits and vegetables. The main objective of drying is to reduce moisture content to a level where microbial spoilage and deteriorative chemical reactions of agricultural products are minimum. However, the degradation of nutrients in food during convective hot air drying results into quality loss. Therefore, new drying equipment and drying techniques have to be designed and studied. Vacuum-assisted microwave drying is an emerging dehydration method that may be efficient to preserve quality characteristics of food and additionally leads to shorten effective drying time. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of vacuum-assisted microwave drying and subsequent product storage on the quality attributes and shelf-life of strawberry fruits. This preservation technique may avoid freezing or refrigeration of fruit.

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Photo by Miles Peacock on Unsplash

Photo by Miles Peacock on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Vacuum microwave drying may be an alternative preservation method for strawberries to freeze-drying. Energy and investment costs are considerably lower. Additionally, experiments have been done with other berries , such as blueberries and Chilean native "Maqui" berry (Aristotelia chilensis).

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