The study on dehydration of frozen saskatoon berries and the need for dried fruits has been strategically identified in the prairies. Our motivation was to find a suitable method for dehydration in order to extend saskatoon berry shelf life for preservation. Microwave, convection and microwave-convection combination drying processes were identified to finish-dry saskatoon berries after osmotic dehydration using sucrose and high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) sugar solutions. Osmotic dehydration removes moisture in small quantities and also introduces solutes into the fruit that acts as a preservative and also reduces the total drying time. <p>Due to the very short harvesting season of saskatoon berries, an accelerated process like microwave combination drying can bring down the moisture to safe storage level, immediately after harvest. Untreated and osmotically dehydrated berries were subjected to convection (control), microwave and microwave-convection combination drying conditions at different product drying temperatures (60, 70 and 80C) until final moisture content was 25% dry basis. A laboratory-scale microwave combination dryer was developed, built with temperature and moisture loss data acquisition systems using LabView 6i software. Thin-layer cross flow dryer was used for convection-only drying and for comparison. <p>Drying kinetics of the drying processes were studied and curve fitting with five empirical equations including Page equation, was carried to determine drying constant, R2 and standard error values. The microwave-combination drying method proved to be the best for drying saskatoon berries. Dehydrated product quality analysis by means of color changes, rehydration ratio measurements and observed structural changes with scanning electron microscope technique were the factors in drying method selection for saskatoon berries.<p> This research was instrumental in the modification and development of a novel drying system for high-moisture agricultural materials. Microwave-convection combination drying at 70oC, yields good results with higher drying rates and better end-product quality.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:USASK/oai:usask.ca:etd-03162006-160319 |
| Date | 20 March 2006 |
| Creators | Reddy, Lakshminarayana |
| Contributors | Nemati, Mehdi, Meda, Venkatesh, Guo, Huiqing, Baik, Oon-Doo |
| Publisher | University of Saskatchewan |
| Source Sets | University of Saskatchewan Library |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-03162006-160319/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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