Osmotic dehydration of mandarins: Influence of reutilized osmotic agent on behaviour and product quality

摘要

Background. Osmotic dehydration (OD) is a technology that allows the concentration mainly of fruits and vegetables, without change of phase, through partial water removal, when immersed in a hypertonic solution of sugar, salt or others. It can be successfully applied to some products whose production is not fully marketed in fresh form. However, an additional process is necessary to stabilize the product. The process leads to the achievement of high quality alternative products, with an extended shelf-life, economy in storage and transport. The aim of this work was to study, at a pilot scale, the behaviour evaluation of a sucrose dehydration solution, during twelve OD reuses, and the quality of processed mandarins.