Modeling the Dehydration of Apple Slices by Deep Fat Frying

Abstract

One of the objectives of immersion frying is to remove water from the food. Thus, predicting moisture loss is important when developing a model for that process. With the aim to model moisture transfer during apple frying, Granny Smith apple slabs were processed at 140, 150, 160, and 170°C. The moisture diffusivity was computed, ranging between 10.7 · 10⁻⁹ and 17.7 · 10⁻⁹ m² · s⁻¹. There was a close fit between the model and the experimental data (average %var 99.0). Model validation was carried out considering different slice thickness. Temperature influence was interpreted by the Arrhenius relationship with an activation energy of 25.4 kJ · mol^−1.

Keywords:

• Apple
• Diffusion
• Frying
• Water loss

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This work was supported by European Commission Alfa II Contract AML/B7-311-97/0666/11-0121-FA.