Evaluación del proceso de deshidratación osmótico de rodajas de batata (Ipomoea batata L) con miel, un deshidratante no convencional

Abstract

Osmotic dehydration (OD) is a preservation technique for food that uses osmotic agents to partially remove the water content from tissues. The use of bee honey (Apis mellifera) as a dehydrating agent could be a good alternative to incorporate honey into a product and obtain a nutritional food with high added value. The objective of the present work was to analyze the efficiency of honey as a dehydrating agent on the discard of sweet potato. The OD process was carried out with a honey solution of 47 °Brix at 40 °C in slices of orange-pulp cv Beauregard. The exposure times where 3, 4 and 5 h (DO3h, DO4h and DO5h, respectively). After the treatments, the slices were dried in an oven for 4 hours at 58 °C. The moisture content and the color were analyzed and weight loss (WR%) and water loss (WL%) were calculated. The luminosity of the slices was slightly reduced with the OD treatment, while the same process increased the color values a* and b* (P≤0.05). This indicated that the samples became slightly darker and reddish. The highest weight loss (WR) occurred with DO3h (26%) which corresponded to the highest water loss (39%) and the lowest content of soluble solids in the solution (41°Brix). The moisture content after the drying process was in the range 7.5 to 10%. The time applied in the OD process did not significantly affect the characteristics of the product. Future trials should analyze higher concentrations of the solution used for DO.