Combined Hot Air and Microwave-Vacuum Drying of Cranberries: Effects of Pretreatments and Pulsed Vacuum Osmotic Dehydration on Drying Kinetics and Physicochemical Properties

The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of sonication (S), microwave-vacuum (MWV), convective freezing (F), cryogenic freezing (N), and their combinations, as well as pulsed vacuum osmotic dehydration (PVOD) on the drying kinetics, bioactive compounds, texture and color of whole cranberries during combined hot air convective drying, and microwave-vacuum drying (HACD+MWVD). Drying of berries took from 20 to 493 min. Drying rate was enhanced by 23% and drying time of non-osmotically dehydrated fruits was shortened by 33% using F treatment, while MWV decreased moisture content before drying by 68% and shortened the drying time of PVOD berries by 96%. Generally, total phenolic (TP) content increased during processing, total flavonoids (TF), and total monomeric anthocyanins (TMA) contents decreased, while the values of ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) of dried fruits depended on the initial pretreatment. F and HACD+MWVD yielded fruits of the highestL*(33.8 +/- 0.7),a*(25.2 +/- 1.0), andb*(7.3 +/- 0.6), inflated oval shape, and a small amount of wrinkles on the surface. PVOD and HACD+MWVD resulted in flat and wrinkled fruits.