Evolution of Moisture Content and Texture During Storage of Dried Apricots

摘要

Texture is one of the most important characteristics for the acceptance of food by consumers. Moisturecontent has a determining influence on the evolution of important food properties, such as texture, colour andnutritional value. During storage, the packaging material is influential in the product moisture variation.The aim of this work was to study the evolution of the moisture content and the texture of dried apricotspackaged in two types of containers, namely glass and polypropylene trays thermosealed with different filmsand stored at a constant temperature - 5, 15, 25 and 35/40°C -. Moisture content and maximum force tocompress and strude the product were analyzed periodically over a period of 12 months. In addition, aDifferential Scanning Calorimetry of the product is carried out to better understand the relationship betweenthese parameters.Film-sealed trays have an important decrease in moisture content. On the contrary, in samples packaged inglass, a small increase in the content of moisture was observed at high temperatures. Only the texturalchanges of the samples stored at 40°C were significantly different. In the case of the samples packaged infilms, the value of maximum force increases with the temperature, while the moisture content decreases. Inglass, the values remain almost constant at the lower temperatures and increase slightly at highertemperatures. A change in the structure of the material has been detected between 25 and 35°C. Phasetransition temperature should not be surpassed during storage and marketing.