Steam blanching and ethanol pretreatment enhance drying rates and improve the quality attributes of apple slices via microstructure modification
Zina Lin
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhihua Geng
College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
Search for more papers by this authorWenxin Liang
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Search for more papers by this authorHuacheng Zhu
College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Search for more papers by this authorJinghua Ye
College of Information Science and Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jun Wang
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Correspondence
Jun Wang and Huaide Xu, College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Huaide Xu
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Correspondence
Jun Wang and Huaide Xu, College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorZina Lin
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Search for more papers by this authorZhihua Geng
College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Shihezi University, Shihezi, China
Search for more papers by this authorWenxin Liang
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Search for more papers by this authorHuacheng Zhu
College of Electronic and Information Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, China
Search for more papers by this authorJinghua Ye
College of Information Science and Engineering, Chengdu University, Chengdu, China
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Jun Wang
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Correspondence
Jun Wang and Huaide Xu, College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorCorresponding Author
Huaide Xu
College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling, China
Correspondence
Jun Wang and Huaide Xu, College of Food Science and Engineering, Northwest A&F University, Yangling 712100, China.
Email: [email protected] and [email protected]
Search for more papers by this authorZina Lina and Zhihua Geng contributed equally to this work and should be considered co-first authors.
Abstract
The effect of steam blanching (SB) and ethanol pretreatment (EP) (75–95% [v/v], 10–25 min) on the drying characteristics and quality attributes of apple slices with hot air drying (HD) (60°C, 1.5 m/s) was evaluated. The drying time was reduced by 10.71% and 19.64–47.32% with SB and various EPs compared with fresh; the drying rate and effective moisture diffusion coefficient significantly accelerated. EP resulted in a higher water loss and solid loss of the apple samples. Furthermore, EP greatly affected the rehydration rate and microstructure of dried apple slices. In addition, SB and EP played a positive role in improving the quality of dried apple slices, particularly a higher phytochemical concentration, and antioxidant activities compared with fresh, and EP groups exhibited higher retention of phenolic compounds. Besides, all the dried apple slices with SB and EPs showed a brighter color than the fresh. Therefore, SB and EP can be used as appropriate pretreatment methods for the HD of apples. This combination of the two pretreatment methods provides a theoretical basis for the pretreatment technology before drying of apple and broadens the train of thought in the selection of osmotic media.
Novelty impact statement
Steam blanching and ethanol pretreatments contribute to the drying rate and quality of apple slices. The pretreatments of E85T25 and E95T25 significantly shorten the drying time, E95T25 shows the highest retention of phenolic compounds, and E85T25 shows the highest phytochemical concentration. E85T25 and E95T25 are suitable pretreatment methods for the HD of apple slices.
CONFLICT OF INTEREST
The authors declared that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. We declare that we do not have any commercial or associative interest that represents a conflict of interest in connection with the work submitted.
Open Research
DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT
The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
Supporting Information
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Table S1 |
Please note: The publisher is not responsible for the content or functionality of any supporting information supplied by the authors. Any queries (other than missing content) should be directed to the corresponding author for the article.
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