Resumen de Effect of Blanching and Vacuum Pulse Application on Osmotic Dehydration of Pear
B. Fernández, L. Pérez, María Teresa Chafer, Amparo Chiralt Boix, C. González Martínez
Osmotic dehydration of pear cylinders (var. blanquilla) was studied by analysing the effect of blanching pre-treatment and the application of a vacuum pulse on the kinetics and yield of the process and on product quality (colour and mechanical behaviour). Fresh and stem-blanched samples were treated with 65 °Brix sucrose at atmospheric pressure and by applying a vacuum pulse (50 mbar for 5 min). The influence of the sugar gain and water loss fluxes, and the tissue structural response to the vacuum pulse, on the total mass and volume losses of the samples has been discussed. Blanching implied an increase in the mass transfer rate in pear tissue. Vacuum pulse in blanched samples resulted in more volume compression than sample impregnation with the external solution due to the sample softening by thermal effect and to the partial gas release during its thermal expansion. This provoked the greatest volume losses and a reduction of the ratio of sugar gain to water loss, where the highest values reached were for non-blanchéd ...(A)
