The Effects of Some Physical, Chemical and Microwave Pretreatments on Plum Drying

Authors : Fırat Ege KARAAT

Pages : 203-208

Doi:10.29278/azd.541157

View : 21 | Download : 10

Publication Date : 2019-12-20

Article Type : Research Paper

Abstract :This study was conducted to observe the effects of some physical, chemical and microwave pretreatments on drying period and prune colour of Stanley plums dried in the sun. For this aim, seven pretreatments including piercing with thin needle, cutting fruit layer by knife, microwave application, dipping into solutions of NaOH and K 2 CO 3 with or without olive oil addition were compared with untreated samples. Microwave application was the most effective pretreatment in reducing drying time (95 h) while control was the slowest drying application (401 h). Microwave and other chemical applications negatively affected colour by increasing redness of prunes. Olive oil addition decreased this negative effect but decelerated drying process. Layer cutting were concluded to be a promising method since it significantly accelerated drying while saving colour of prunes.
Keywords : Drying curve, plum, pretreatment, prune, quality