Osmotic pre-treatments in fruit processing: chemical, physical and structural effects

Over the last few decades wide prospects for osmotic dehydration have arisen as a pre-step to further processing. The distinctive aspect of this process, when compared with other dehydration methods, is the direct formulation achievable through the selective incorporation of solutes, without modifying the food integrity. By balancing the two main osmotic effects, water loss and solid uptake, the functional properties of the fruit could be adapted to many different food systems. The role of an osmotic step mainly related to improvement of processed fruit quality characteristics, such as texture, and pigment, vitamin and aroma content, is analysed. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.