Drying of tomatoes and tomato processing waste: a critical review of the quality aspects

Abstract

Tomatoes are a valuable highly perishable agricultural product that are dried on a large scale for extending shelf life. The drying of both tomatoes and tomato processing waste can yield valuable products. The dried forms serve as raw material for different commercial products, as an ingredient for functional foods. It is also used all over the world for direct consumption. However, the production of dried forms with quality attributes equivalent to those of fresh tomatoes such as the nutrient content, appearance, flavor, texture, reconstitution properties etc. are major challenges. This paper provides an overview of the diverse drying techniques employed along with the effects of pretreatment to produce dried tomatoes, powders, and various by-products of tomato processing industries. A comparison is provided with regard to the quality of dried tomato products obtained by different drying techniques for lycopene content, ascorbic acid, β-carotene, total phenolic content, flavonoids, antioxidant activity, rehydration ratio, color change, texture, and flavor.

Keywords:

• Perishable
• drying
• shelf life
• quality
• tomato
• lycopene

Disclosure statement

The authors report no conflicts of interest. The authors alone are responsible for the content and writing of the paper.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.