E. Forni et al., THE INFLUENCE OF SUGAR COMPOSITION ON THE COLOR STABILITY OF OSMODEHYDROFROZEN INTERMEDIATE MOISTURE APRICOTS, Food research international, 30(2), 1997, pp. 87-94
Osmodehydrofreezing is a 'combined' process consisting of osmotic dehy
dration followed by air dehydration and then freezing. This process ha
s been proposed to obtain intermediate moisture (a(w)=0.86) apricot in
gredients without sulphur dioxide, having a natural and agreable colou
r, which could be suitable for different applications. The influence o
f the syrup composition [sucrose, maltose and sorbitol syrups with the
addition of 1% (w/v) ascorbic acid and 0.1% (w/v) sodium chloride as
antioxidant] on the chemical-physical properties of osmodehydrofrozen
apricot cubes (10 mm) was studied. The effect of the modification of t
he glass transition temperature (Tg) through the osmotic pretreatment
on the ascorbic acid retention and on the colour stability during stor
age at -20 degrees C was also analysed. The incorporation of different
sugars into the apricot cubes modified the percentage distribution of
the sugars and their low-temperature phase transitions. The sugar com
position of the syrup affected the ascorbic acid retention during air-
drying and the colour stability during the frozen storage, with maltos
e showing the highest protective effect. (C) 1997 Canadian Institute o
f Food Science and Technology. Published by Elsevier Science Ltd.