Abstract
Obtaining snacks from the drying of surplus vegetables is an alternative to reduce waste. A combination of pulsed electric field (PEF) pretreatments and ultrasonic-assisted (US) drying could significantly enhance the process, as this is the aim of this study. PEF pretreatments of yellow turnip significantly affected the cell disintegration index (CDI) and the water holding capacity (WHC): the more intense the PEF treatment, the greater the CDI and the lower the WHC. Both parameters, CDI and WHC, showed a high degree of correlation which indicated that WHC can be an alternative index to CDI to assess PEF effects on food matrices. Regarding yellow turnip drying (40 °C), PEF pretreatments (CDI 0.25 and 0.75) and US application (20.5 kW/m3) significantly accelerated the operation, but it was the combination of both technologies that provided the shortest process (CDI 0.75). PEF could generate changes in the food matrix which enhance the US effects on mass transfer.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).