Osmotic dehydration of pineapple as a pre-treatment for further drying Original Research Article

Osmotic dehydration can be used as a pre-treatment for tropical fruits with the final aim of obtaining high quality dried fruit products. This concept was applied to South African grown Cayenne type pineapple pieces. The effect of osmotic dehydration on mass fluxes (water loss, solids gain and weight reduction) was investigated. Pineapple cylinders of 2 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick were immersed in sucrose solutions of 45, 55 and 65 °Brix at 30, 40 and 50 °C for 20, 40, 60, 20, 180 and 240 min. Experiments were conducted at both atmospheric pressure and applying a 200 mbar vacuum pulse during the first 10 min. Water loss and solids gain increased with temperature and concentration. Applying a vacuum pulse facilitated water loss especially at the highest concentration and temperature. Furthermore, the yield was improved by applying a vacuum pulse, as mass loss was less in those cases. Temperature affected mostly the water loss while the concentration of the solution affected mostly the solids gain. Prototypes of high/low water loss and high/low solids gain combinations were selected for quality evaluation.