COMPARATIVE STUDY OF SEESAW SOLAR AND CABINET DRIER TECHNIQUES ON OSMOTICALLY DRIED STRAWBERRIES

摘要

Dehydration is a technique in which moisture is removed from the product. In the present work strawberry was chosen as a medium of study as it is very perishable and it is available for a very limited duration during the year so in order to make it available for the whole of the year, it was dehydrated and the different changes were quantified. During the study the fruit halves were first chemically treated with 2% calcium sorbate, 2% citric acid for eight minutes then the fruit was osmotically dehydrated using 20%, 40% and 60% sucrose solutions; therefore it was dehydrated again to reduce the moisture contents and water activity by electrical and solar dehydrator separately. Strawberry is a rich source of vitamin C, flavanoid, foliate and fiber. Strawberries contain an excellent antioxidant that is feistin and this is very potent against Alzheimer's disease as well as kidney failure. This work saved a lot of commodity that was victim of spoilage by different microbial and environmental losses after dehydration we were able to save a lot of the fresh product. Ash content was increased while water activity was decreased with time. T-3 showed maximum total solids and ascorbic acid, acidity was decreased with passage of time while minimum change was observed in T-3.