OPTIMIZATION OF OSMOTIC DEHYDRATION OF APPLES IN SUGAR BEET MOLASSES

This paper describes the effects of different concentrations of sugar beet molasses (40-80%) and immersion times (1-5 h) on osmotic dehydration/impregnation of apple cubes. Osmotic dehydration process was conducted at constant temperature of 55C and under atmospheric pressure. Analysis of variance was used in order to find significant effects of solution concentration and immersion time on water loss, solid gain, carbohydrates and minerals content, as well as change in colors and textural characteristics. It was found that the influence of both process variables were statistically significant at P < 0.05 level, on almost all of examined responses, with the exception of minerals content (Ca and K content were found insignificant, while Na was found significant at P < 0.10 level). The optimum processing conditions were determined by response surface method, coupled with fuzzy synthetic evaluation algorithm, using membership trapezoidal function, with defined optimal interval values, depending on a final usage of dehydrated fruit.