Influence of Pretreatments and Drying Methods on Water Activity, Dehydration and Rehydration Ratio of Dried Tomato

Omar Bin Hameed*, Hafiza Ahsan, A. H. Rather, S. Z. Hussain, and H. R. Naik

Division of Post-Harvest Technology Sher-e- Kashmir University of Agricultural sciences and Technology, Srinagar, 190 011, India. Corresponding Author E-mail: omargojwari@gmail.com

DOI : http://dx.doi.org/10.13005/bbra/2391

ABSTRACT: The study was carried out to investigate the effect of different chemical pretreatments (2% ethyl oleate + 1% potassium carbonate, 1% ascorbic acid+1% citric acid and 2% sodium metabisulfite, 1% calcium chloride + 0.25% sodium chloride and 1% sodium chloride at different drying methods (sun drying, solar tunnel drying and cabinet drying at 45^oC, 55^oC and 65^oC) on Water activity, Dehydration and Rehydration ratio of dried tomato slices. The effects of drying methods and pretreatments and their interactions were found statistically significant (p<0.05). Maximum water activity 0.64 was recorded in open sun dried samples in variety Shalimar I (T₀) while as minimum water activity 0.38 was recorded in samples which were cabinet dried at 65^oC using T₄ as pre-treatment solution in Punjab Chuhra. Minimum Dehydration and Rehydration ratio 20.00 and 1.33 was recorded in open sun dried samples in variety Punjab Chuhra (T₀) respectively while as maximum Dehydration ratio 33.33 was recorded in samples which were cabinet dried at 55^oC (T₂) in Shalimar I and maximum Rehydration ratio 2.98 was recorded in samples which were cabinet dried at 55^oC (T₂) in Punjab Chuhra.

KEYWORDS: Cabinet dried; Dehydration ratio; Pretreatments; Punjab Chuhra; Rehydration ratio; Shalimar I; Water activity

[ HTML Full Text]