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Effect of Different Pretreatment Methods on Drying Characteristics and Quality of Wolfberry (Lycium barbarum) by Radio Frequency-Hot Air Combined Segmented Drying

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Abstract

In this study, fresh wolfberry in the current season was used as the experimental material, and a radio frequency (RF)-hot air combined segmented drying process was adopted for berry preservation. Ultrasonic treatment, hot water blanching, sucrose infiltration, ultrasonic and blanching, ultrasonic and infiltration, and NaOH and NaCl solution impregnation were used for pre-treatment of combined drying. Taking natural drying and conventional Na2CO3 dewaxing treatment as the control group, the effects of different pretreatment methods on drying characteristics, quality, and microstructure of wolfberry during combined drying were investigated. The drying time after ultrasonic and blanching pretreatment was the shortest (13.5 h), which effectively retained total flavonoids (1.79 mg/g) and enhanced their antioxidant activity (I = 60.78%). NaCl impregnation treatment significantly increased the total phenol content (8.77 mg/g), whereas the retention rate of soluble sugar (0.73 g/g), ascorbic acid (3.96 mg/100 g), betaine (2.72%), and other nutrients increased significantly after ultrasonic and infiltration treatment, with improved color, rehydration rate and microstructure over other treatment methods. The Weibull distribution function can accurately describe the RF-hot air combined drying process of wolfberry after different pretreatment, and simulated results were consistent with the results of the combined drying characteristic curve of wolfberry. The aim of this study was to explore suitable pretreatment methods to improve the drying rate and ensure the quality of dried products of wolfberry.

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Funding

This research was funded by the Regional Science Fund Project (32160426).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Gansu Agricultural University, Lanzhou, 730070, China

    Yanrui Xu, Fangxin Wan, Zepeng Zang, Chunhui Jiang, Tongxun Wang, Jianwei Shang & Xiaopeng Huang

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  1. Yanrui Xu
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  2. Fangxin Wan
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Contributions

Conceptualization, Xu.Y. and Huang.X.; methodology, Xu.Y., Huang.X., Zang.Z. and Zhang.Q.; software, Xu.Y.; validation, Xu.Y., Huang.X., Zang.Z., Jiang.C. and Zhang.Q.; formal analysis, Xu.Y.; in-vestigation, Wang.T., Shang.J. and Wan.F.; resources, Wang.T., Shang.J. and Wan.F.; data curation, Xu.Y.; writing—original draft preparation, Xu.Y.; writing-review and editing, Xu.Y., Huang.X., Zang.Z., Jiang.C. and Zhang.Q.; visualization, Xu.Y.; supervision, Huang.X.; project administration, Huang.X. and Wan.F.; funding acquisition, Huang.X. and Wan.F. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Xiaopeng Huang.

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Xu, Y., Wan, F., Zang, Z. et al. Effect of Different Pretreatment Methods on Drying Characteristics and Quality of Wolfberry (Lycium barbarum) by Radio Frequency-Hot Air Combined Segmented Drying. Food Bioprocess Technol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11947-024-03340-0

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