FST305 FOOD PROCESSING
CHAPTER 2:
FRUITS AND VEGETABLES
2.3 REHYDRATION AND
DEHYDRATION OF FRUITS AND
VEGETABLES
RABIATUL ADAWIAH MOHAMMAD NOR
SHAHRIMI MOHAMAD HASHIM
FATIN ALISYA MARZUKI
SITI HAFSAH MOHD SHAH
Points to be covered
Introduction
Importance of drying and dehydration of fruits
Nutritive value of dried fruits
What is drying and dehydration of fruits
Comparison between drying and dehydration
Principle of drying and dehydration of fruits
Pre treatment for the product to be dried
Post drying products treatments
Schedule for drying of fruits
Types of drying
Conclusion
INTRODUCTION
Sun drying is one of the oldest method of preservation of fruit,
which is simple, easy to carry out and ecofriendly.
Sun radiation is oldest and simplest method of drying.
Sun radiation are mostly available throughout the year during day
time
The modern method of dehydration, i.e. drying fruit under
controlled atmosphere is however assuming importance now a days.
Among the different methods of processing dehydration techniques
has been found most useful in fruits especially in tropical fruits.
IMPORTANCE OF DRYING AND
DEHYDRATION OF FRUITS
Modern production technology has greatly increased the yields of
fruits.
But unfortunately, one-fourth of the highly perishable produced
after harvested is never consumed due to spoilage during its
storage, transportation and processing.
Preservation of fruits by drying and dehydration is highly effective
and practicable.
Dehydrated fruits have been an important food supply in different
parts of the world for military operations during the major wars
because of its space and weight saving possibilities.
NECESSITY OF DRYING AND DEHYDRATION OF
FRUITS
Dried fruits have higher shelf life under proper storage conditions.
Transportation, handling and storage costs are reduced..
Microorganisms are effectively killed when the internal
temperature is higher of fruits.
Dried fruits are tasty, nutritious, light in weight and easy-to-
store.
Economical value of fruits is increased after drying
and dehydration.
NUTRITIVE VALUE OF DRIED FRUITS
Dried fruits are good source of energy because they contain
concentrated fruit sugars.
Fruits also contain large amount of carbohydrates, vitamins,
proteins, fats and minerals.
Approximate nutritive value of some dried fruits is as follows
Content Water Proteins Carbohydrates Fats Ash
Fruits (%) (%) (%) (%)
(%)
Apple 23 1.4 73.2 1.0 1.4
Fig 24 4.0 68.4 1.2 2.4
Raisin 24 2.3 71.2 0.5 2.0
Prunes 24 2.3 71.2 0.6 2.1
(Source: Verma and Joshi, 2006)
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON BETWEEN
FRESH AND DRIED APRICOT
(Per 100 gram)
Contents Unit Fresh Apricot Dried Apricot
Energy (kcal) 48 241 (500 %)
CHO (g) 11 63 (572 %)
Sugar (g) 9 53 (600 %)
Dietary fibre (g) 2 7 (350 %)
Fat (g) 0.4 0.5 (125 %)
Protein (g) 1.4 3.4 (250 %)
Vitamin A (ug) 96 180 (200 %)
Vitamin C (mg) 1094 2163 (200 %)
Iron (mg) 10 1
(Source: Verma and Joshi, 2006)
WHAT IS DRYING OF FRUITS ?
It is removal of water from the fruit by conventional energy
sources like sunlight and wind under natural condition .
WHAT IS DEHYDRATION OF FRUITS ?
It is the process of removal of water from the fruit under
controlled conditions like temperature, relative humidity
and air flow with the help of mechanical instrument and
modern techniques.
COMPARISON BETWEEN DRYING AND
DEHYDRATION
Drying Dehydration
Drying is carried out in open Dehydration is carried under
natural condition. controlled condition.
Losses of fruit quality such as
Losses of fruit quality are
colour, test, nutrient content is more
minimised in dehydration.
drying than dehydration process.
Drying is cheapest method. Dehydration is costly method.
It takes more time. It takes less time.
Source of energy require freely
Source of energy is costly.
available.
PRINCIPLE OF DRYING AND DEHYDRATION
Most fruits contain enough water to permit their spoilage by the
microorganisms and enzymes.
By reducing the free water content, thereby increasing osmotic
pressures, microbial growth can be controlled.
The dehydration reduces the amount of available moisture i.e.
the water activity and hence, produce becomes shelf stable and
is preserved for quite a long period because of removal or
binding of water.
The basic principle in the process of drying or dehydration is the
removal of sufficient moisture to protect the product from
spoilage.
PRE-TREATMENT FOR THE PRODUCT
TO BE DRIED
1) Harvesting
To obtain high quality dried fruits the raw product must be
harvested at optimum maturity and processed carefully and as
rapidly as possible.
2) Washing
Fruits are usually rinsed in cold water at the drying plant to
remove surface dust particles and pesticides spray residues.
3) Peeling and Slicing
Apples and sometimes cling-stone peaches are peeled prior to
drying.
This is accomplished by: refractory, lye, hot brine peelers,
mechanical knife peelers for apples and dilute lye for cling-stone
4) Pricking
Pricking aimed at making the structure more porous so as to
facilitate mass transfer and thereby, speedup drying rate.
Generally pricking is followed in Aonla fruit.
5) Soaking
The fruits slices are soaked in plain water, lime water, brine or alum
solution for few hrs to few days before blanching and cooking
6) Curing
Generally is curing is practiced in vegetables (onion, garlic).
It dehydrates raw material by sun drying or hot air drying at a
temperature of 30°C.
7) Blanching
Exposing fruit to hot or boiling water-as a pre-treatment before
drying has the following advantages:
It helps to clean the material and reduce the amount of
microorganisms present on the surface.
It preserves the natural colour in the dried products.
It shortens the soaking and/or cooking time during
reconstitution.
POST DRYING PRODUCT TREATMENTS
The procedures after drying vary with the kind of dried fruits, however, the
practices which are followed after drying are described as follows
1) Screening
During cutting operation leave some unwanted size of the product
which have to be screened.
2) Inspection
The dried product is inspected to remove the discoloured pieces
such as skin or stem particles. These are removed manually.
3) Heat treatment
To avoid insect infestation, great care is necessary while storage.
In case of heat treatment, dried at 54-65oc to destroy all insects.
4) Sweating
Sweating is a practice of storage of dried product in bins or
boxes for equalization of moisture or re-addition of moisture to a
desired level.
It is used primarily with some dried fruits and some nuts.
5) Packaging
Most products are packaged after drying for protection against
moisture, contamination with micro-organisms and infestation with
insects, although some dried fruits may be held as long as a year
before packaging.
Preparation and Sulphuring Drying
Fruit
pretreatment time temperature
Wash, peel, cut into 12 45-500C or
Mango 2 hrs
mm thick slices sun dry
Wash, peel, halve
55-600C or
Banana lengthwise or slice 30 min
sun dry
crosswise 12 mm thick
Wash, peel, remove seeds
60-650C or
Papaya and cut into 6 mm thick 2 hrs
sun dry
slices
1 55-600C or
Fig Wash
hrs sun dry
Fruits
Washing
Peeling
Blanching
Sulphuring usually @1.8 to 3.6 kg per ton of fruit
Drying
Packing (Airtight in tin containers or polythene
bags)
TYPES OF DRYERS
1) SUN DRYING
Prepared fruits are placed on drying trays. Stainless steel screening
and thin wood lath are good materials for home-constructed drying
trays (14" x 24" x 1“)
Sun drying of fruits is practiced in tropical and subtropical regions,
where there is plenty of sunshine and practically little or no rains during
the drying season. It is carried out in the open sun. Equipment
essentially consists of drying trays and few other items.
2) SOLAR DRYING
Recent efforts to improve on
sun drying have led to solar
drying.
Solar drying uses the
sun as the heat source.
A foil surface inside the
dehydrator
helps to increase the
temperature, from 37-930C.
Ventilation speeds up the drying
time.
Shorter drying times reduce the
risks of food spoilage or
mould growth.
3) SPRAY DRYING
Spray drying is the current state of the art in the food industry, because it offers
an excellent solution to many drying problems.
There are three basic types of devices:
1. Single-fluid nozzles (pressure type)
2. Two-fluid nozzles (pneumatic type)
3. centrifugal feeds (spinning disks)
• Due to correct balance of dryer inlet and
outlet temperatures can reduce energy use.
• These 3-stage dryer is used for "non-dusty,
hygroscopic, and high fat content products.
• It suitable for drying juices and powder.
4) FREEZE-DRYING
Freeze-drying is the drying of material in the frozen state at 0 oC.
It is usually carried out under vacuum, at absolute pressures that readily
permit ice to change directly from solid to vapour.
Advantages
Good retention of volatile flavors
Good vitamin retention.
Rapid rehydration ratio.
Long product storage life.
Disadvantages
High drying cost.
Damage to certain products by initial
freezing.
Product friability (crumbles easily). Pre-
treatment sometimes necessary (e.g.,
with carrots) to avoid colour loss.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN CONVENTIONAL AND FREEZE DRYING
No. Conventional drying Freeze drying
1 Continuous processing Batch processing
Temperature between 37 and 930C Sufficiently low temperature is used to
2
generally used prevent thawing
Drying pressure usually at
3 Drying usually pressure below 4 mmHg
atmospheric
Drying time may be short, usually Drying time generally between 12 and 24
4
less than 12 hours hours
5 Colour usually darker Colour usually natural
6 Flavour may be abnormal Flavour generally natural
Storage stability good, tendency to
7 Storage stability excellent
darken
8 Costs generally low Costs generally high
FREEZE DRIED STRAWBERRY SLICES
25
5) OVEN DRYING
It is the combining factors of heat, low humidity and air flow, an oven can be
used as a dehydrator.
Oven drying is slower than dehydrators because it does not have a
built-in fan for the air movement.
It takes about two times longer to dry fruits in an oven than it does in a
dehydrator. Thus, the oven is not as efficient as a dehydrator and uses
more energy.
An oven is ideal for drying of banana chips.
6) INFRARED DRYING
A specially made structures are used for drying.
The infrared radiations from sun is absorbed.
About 300 to 400 nm wave length rays are trapped and used for drying.
These infrared rays are having a shorter wave length and having a higher
penetrate capacity thus helps in rapid removal of moisture.
7) VACUUM DRIERS
Internal pressure as much as
9800 kg/m2 by supply of heat.
Heat transfer to fruit is largely by
conduction and radiation.
Water removal are conducted by
regulating the degree of vacuum
and intensity of heat input.
Higher quality of dried fruits.
8) OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION
Material is soaked in a heavy (thick liquid sugar solution) and/or
a strong salt solution.
Protective effect on colour, flavor and texture.
Initial temperature 43ºC and increased up to 66-71ºC.
The protective effect remains throughout the drying process and
makes it possible to produce dried products of high quality.
This process makes little use of sulphur dioxide.
Changes in moisture, total soluble solids,
pH and acidity during
Osmo-Air drying of Papaya
Final
Parameters Initial After blanching
(After drying)
Moisture (%) 86.12 82.11 12.06
TSS (%B) 08 13 77
pH 5.51 5.46 5.48
Acidity (as %
anhydrous 0.12 0.14 0.135
citric acid)
(Source: Jasim Ahmed et al.,1995)
9) CABINET DRIER
Usually fruit slices are loaded on tray in a thin layer.
Fresh air is blown into a cabinetor, then it is drawn by the fan through a
heater coil and then it is blown across the fruits slices/pieces.
Suitable for small scale operation.
Operated at air temperature of
about 95 ºC with air velocity
2.5-5 m/sec across tray.
Drying time may be 10-20 hrs.
CONCLUSION
Drying and dehyration increase fruit value.
The modern method of dehydration i.e drying fruits under controlled
atmosphere is however assuming importance nowdays.
Water removed from food is primarily done to lower the water activity so
that microbial growth is inhibited.
Drying and dehydration minimizing losses of fruit crops when they are
available in large quantity
It also saves energy, money and space in shipping, packaging, storing
and transportation.
In recent years, the achievement in drying or dehydration of fruits have
led to the development of more improve methods and techniques.
END OF
CHAPTER 2.3
