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EFFECT OF PRETREATMENT ON DRYING TIME AND QUALITY OF CHILLI PEPPER
Author(s) -
TUNDEAKINTUNDE T.Y.
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
journal of food processing and preservation
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.511
H-Index - 48
eISSN - 1745-4549
pISSN - 0145-8892
DOI - 10.1111/j.1745-4549.2008.00360.x
Subject(s) - blanching , pepper , chemistry , food science , sugar , dried fruit , osmotic dehydration , brix , vitamin c , horticulture , dehydration , sucrose , biology , biochemistry
A study was carried out on the effect of various pretreatments and drying methods on drying time and quality of chilli pepper. Chilli peppers were pretreated with different blanching types and concentrations of osmotic sugar solutions (60 and 70°Brix), and were dried afterward. Results indicated that the pretreated peppers dried faster than the untreated ones. The peppers soaked in osmotic solution of 70°Brix had the lowest drying time, which decreased by a variation of 33.3–41.7%, compared with the dried untreated peppers that had the highest drying time. Solar‐dried peppers had higher nutritional content than peppers dried from the other methods, while the oven‐dried pepper samples had the lowest vitamin A and vitamin C contents.PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS Drying gives dried samples lower nutritional quality than fresh samples because of physiological changes that takes place. Pretreatments of pepper by steam and by water blanching are common methods, but osmotic dehydration also has a significant effect on the quality of dried foods. The effect of the pretreatments and drying methods on the drying rate and nutritional quality of dried pepper were investigated. Osmotically dehydrated samples had the lowest drying time, while pretreated samples dried faster than untreated samples generally. The nutritional quality of the dried samples, however, varied with the different pretreatment methods. This indicates that pretreatment enhances drying rate and also affects the quality of the final dried product. Dried pepper can thus be pretreated with blanching or dipping in osmotic solutions for products of higher nutritional quality. This will give dried pepper that will meet the nutritional requirement of the consumers better than untreated dried pepper.