Modelling dehydration of apricot in a non-conventional multi-component osmotic solution: effect on mass transfer kinetics and quality characteristics.

The quality and preservation of fresh-cut fruits can be improved by applying mild, non-thermal pre-treatments, such as osmotic dehydration (OD). The aim was to model the effect of OD on mass transfer and quality preservation. Apricot pieces were immersed in multi-component solutions comprising glycerol, erythritol, steviol glucosides and mineral salts, at various time-temperature conditions (25-45 °C for 3-240 min, wfruit/wsolution = 1/5). Water loss (WL), solid gain (SG), water activity (aw) as well as main quality indices (colour, texture) were measured during OD. OD apricot exhibited higher quality retention (acceptable level of colour change, increased firmness) suggesting that OD can be an effective pre-processing step in the production of innovative products. A second degree polynomial model was developed, describing the effect of processing conditions and glycerol concentration on WL, SG, aw, colour and texture of osmotically dehydrated apricots, and ANOVA was applied to identify the factors that significantly affect the aforementioned parameters.