Project
Effects of processing on the Quality of Osmotic Dehydrated and/or Dried Tropical Fruit
Effect of Processing Condition, Maturity Stages, Matrix Modification and The Use of Ternary Compounds on The Quality of Osmotic Dehydrated and/or Dried Tropical Fruit.
As a healthy product but highly perishable commodity, diverse technology has been applied to extend shelf life of fruit. From the various existing processed fruit products, dried/dehydrated fruits are getting substantial attention, and recently the availability of those products in the market has increased considerably. Dried fruit is higher in energy per serving than fresh, canned, frozen fruit and most fruit juices. Their high content of dietary fibre contribute to more than 7.5% of the US daily value per serving (40 g). Most of them contain vitamins (e.g. vitamin A and C) and a wide range of phytochemicals.
The use of a combination of osmotic dehydration and heated drying techniques resulted in higher quality shelf-stable products to many type of dried fruits, compared to the application of only one of them. Among numerous attempts to improve the efficiency of osmotic dehydration process, the use of polysaccharide based-edible coating and food additives especially texture modifying agents (i.e. cell wall-modifying enzyme, Calcium (Ca) salts, phenolic compounds) shown good results.
Some of the research topics which involve experimental work in the laboratory might be, as followed:
1. Study on the effect of processing condition and maturity stages to the quality of dried fruit and its products on the physico-mechanical and phytochemical properties
2. Study on the effect of several process variables (incl. type and concentration of polysaccharides-based edible coating and texture modifying agents) to the quality of dried fruit and its products on the physico-mechanical and phytochemical properties.
3. Study on the effect of ternary compounds (sugars, several types of Ca-salts and weak acids) on the quality of osmotically dehydrated and/or dried fruit, especially toward the flavour release and colour degradation. This research might involve sensory evaluation.
Response Surface Methodology (RSM) will be applied to optimize important factors to have quality osmotically dehydrated and/or dried fruit according to their destined products.
The use of a combination of osmotic dehydration and heated drying techniques resulted in higher quality shelf-stable products to many type of dried fruits, compared to the application of only one of them. Among numerous attempts to improve the efficiency of osmotic dehydration process, the use of polysaccharide based-edible coating and food additives especially texture modifying agents (i.e. cell wall-modifying enzyme, Calcium (Ca) salts, phenolic compounds) shown good results.
Some of the research topics which involve experimental work in the laboratory might be, as followed:
1. Study on the effect of processing condition and maturity stages to the quality of dried fruit and its products on the physico-mechanical and phytochemical properties
2. Study on the effect of several process variables (incl. type and concentration of polysaccharides-based edible coating and texture modifying agents) to the quality of dried fruit and its products on the physico-mechanical and phytochemical properties.
3. Study on the effect of ternary compounds (sugars, several types of Ca-salts and weak acids) on the quality of osmotically dehydrated and/or dried fruit, especially toward the flavour release and colour degradation. This research might involve sensory evaluation.
Response Surface Methodology (RSM) will be applied to optimize important factors to have quality osmotically dehydrated and/or dried fruit according to their destined products.