Application of Osmotic Dehydration Processes to Produce Apple Slices Enriched with β-Carotene

Abstract

The objective of this work was the impregnation of β-carotene in apple slices by osmotic dehydration (OD) at atmospheric pressure and by pulsed vacuum osmotic dehydration (PVOD). Osmotic solutions were sucrose solutions of 30, 40, and 50 °Brix containing β-carotene (0.01 g/mL). Maximum impregnation using OD treatments was 1.5, 3.5, and 4.1 mg β-carotene/g ds. When using PVOD, significantly shorter processing times were required and impregnation reached 4.7, 5.5, and 6 mg β-carotene/g ds. Values of a_w obtained by OD were 0.973, 0.967, and 0.960 while by PVOD were 0.960, 0.930, and 0.880. Results showed that PVOD was a good option to impregnate apple with β-carotene.

Keywords:

• β
• carotene
• Apple slices
• Osmotic dehydration
• Pulsed vacuum osmotic dehydration

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors gratefully acknowledge financial support from the PROMEP-SEP program, CONACYT, SIP projects-IPN and ENCB-IPN, México.