Abstract
Pomegranate arils (Punica granatum L.) were dried in a microwave-vacuum drier up to a final moisture content of around 5–6 % (d.b.). The effect of microwave power level (25–95 W), vacuum pressure (25–195 mm Hg) and sample mass (65–235 g) on drying efficiency and some quality attributes (color, texture, rehydration ratio and sensory score) of dried pomegranate arils were analyzed by means of response surface methodology. A rotatable central composite design was used to develop models for the responses. Analysis of variance showed that a second order polynomial model predicted well the experimented data. All three process parameters microwave power, vacuum pressure and sample mass strongly affected quality attributes of dried pomegranate arils and drying efficiency. A lower vacuum pressure during drying resulted in better quality products. Optimum drying conditions of microwave power level of 80 W, vacuum pressure of 60 mm Hg and sample mass of 193.7 g were established for microwave-vacuum drying of pomegranate arils. Separate validation experiment was conducted at the derived optimum conditions to verify the predictions and adequacy of the models.
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Abbreviations
- β :
-
Regression coefficient
- \( \beta_{0} \) :
-
Constants of regression coefficients
- β j :
-
Linear regression coefficients
- β jj :
-
Quadratic regression coefficients
- β ij :
-
Cross product regression coefficients
- X:
-
Independent variable
- Y:
-
Observed value of response
- ξ :
-
Statistical error/residuals
- d i :
-
Response
- ∆E:
-
Color difference between fresh and dried pomegranate arils
- ∆t:
-
Drying time (s)
- k:
-
Total number of experiments
- n:
-
Number of independent variables
- µ:
-
Number of centre points
- ANOVA:
-
Analysis of variance
- C.V.:
-
Coefficient of variance
- CCRD:
-
Central composite rotatable design
- d.b.:
-
Dry basis
- DE:
-
Drying efficiency (%)
- f :
-
Unknown function of response
- H:
-
Hardness (N)
- L*, a*, b*:
-
Color value of fresh pomegranate arils
- L, a, b:
-
Color value of dried pomegranate arils
- m:
-
Sample mass (g)
- MVD:
-
Microwave-vacuum drying
- mw :
-
Mass of water evaporated (g)
- P:
-
Vacuum pressure (mm Hg)
- p :
-
Probability level
- Q:
-
Microwave power (W)
- r :
-
Total number of responses
- R2 :
-
Coefficient of determination
- RR:
-
Rehydration ratio
- RSM:
-
Response surface methodology
- SS:
-
Sensory score
- λw :
-
Latent heat of vaporization (J/g)
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Acknowledgments
The authors are thankful to the Director, Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi and Dean, University College of Science, M. L. Sukhadia University, Udaipur for providing necessary facilities for the experimentation.
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Dak, M., Jain, M.K. & Jat, S.L. Optimization of microwave-vacuum drying of pomegranate arils. Food Measure 8, 398–411 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-014-9205-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11694-014-9205-4