STUDY OF PEACHES DEHYDRATION BY OSMOTIC TREATMENT AND DRYING

Abstract

The purpose of this work was to investigate processes alternatives for obtaining dehydrated peach presenting good quality. For that the coupling of pre-dehydration processes, the osmotic dehydration (OD) and the vacuum impregnation (VI), with complementary dehydration (convective drying and the application of vacuum pulses) was investigated. The dehydration of peach by the combination of OD, drying by vacuum pulses and convective drying in oven was the best alternative to obtain dried fruits. The application of VI was not a good alternative to dehydration, due to the low peaches porosity. This work demonstrated that is possible to produce dehydrated peaches of good quality selecting appropriate processes.