Influence of Sugar and Jaggery Pretreatment on Drying Kinetics of Banana Slices

Author: Mahendra Kumar, Sudharsan M., Arulkumar M., Sapna Tomar, Sohan Lal Bajya and Yogeshwari R.

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Abstract

Drying is a common method for preserving agricultural food products. Banana is one of the popular food. Due to its high nutrition, strong aroma, and the convenience for package, storage, and transportation, dried banana is in a growing demand in local and international market. The effects of different pretreatments and temperature on the drying characteristics of ripe banana slices were investigated. 7 mm thick slices of bananas were pretreated with two different pretreatments such as sugar solution, jaggery solution and a control for 1hour. Pretreated banana slices were dried in a tray dryer using a completely randomized design at 50°C and 60°C and their drying characteristics such as rate of drying, moisture ratio, moisture content (db) % were studied. The 7 mm thick slices at a drying air temperature of 60°C dried better than the other. The textural properties of banana slices were analysed with textural profile analyzer (TPA) at different drying condition and temperature. The osmotic treatments preserved the texture of banana slices. The sugar exhibited more hardness value when compared to the jaggery treated sample

Keywords

Banana, Drying, Osmotic, Sugar, Jaggery, moisture

Conclusion

Osmotic dehydration proved to be an effective method for removing certain water from food materials without causing phase transformation, thereby reducing the physical, chemical, and biological changes that typically occur with drying at higher temperatures. The osmotic pretreated banana samples dried more efficiently than the control sample. Untreated banana samples experienced degradation in color and other sensory attributes. The sugar-treated banana sample dried at 50°C exhibited excellent drying and sensory properties. The sugar treated samples are far better than jaggery treated samples in pretreatment, drying time, and texture retention. In dried banana samples, the sugar-treated sample being soft and has good texture properties. In contrast, the jaggery-treated sample displayed a higher hardness value compared to the other two samples. The pretreatment didn’t have so much impact on weight reduction but quality retention was appropriate. However, the concentration variation needs to be evaluate to improve the weight reduction in pretreatment

References

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How to cite this article

Mahendra Kumar, Sudharsan M., Arulkumar M., Sapna Tomar, Sohan Lal Bajya and Yogeshwari R. (2024). Influence of Sugar and Jaggery Pretreatment on Drying Kinetics of Banana Slices. Biological Forum – An International Journal, 16(8): 77-81.