Osmotic dehydration of acerola fruit (Malpighia punicifolia L.)

Osmotic dehydration process was investigated in this study. This process was carried out in an incubator at temperatures of 25 and 60degreesC and constant agitation. Frozen mature acerolas were blanched in water (80 degreesC for 3 min) and dehydrated using binary (water + sucrose) and ternary (water + sucrose salt) solutions. The concentration of sucrose ranged from 30% to 60% (w/w) for binary solution and from 20% to 50% (w/w) for ternary solution with 10% (w/w) of salt. Responses of water loss (WL), solid gain ( SG). solid gain/water loss ratios (SG/WL) and water reduction (WR) were evaluated. The best conditions were determinated by using SG/ WL as a process parameter. The chosen conditions were: a binary solution with 60% (w/w) of sucrose and a ternary solution of 50% of sucrose plus 10% of salt, both at a temperature of 60degreesC. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.