The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects of osmotic pre-treatments on the air-drying kinetics of sliced pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) and on the sensory quality of the dried pumpkin, using sucrose and NaCl as solutes. Pre-treatment conditions in osmotic solutions were selected based on the water loss/solute gain ratio and on the final salt content. Pre-treated samples in the selected conditions (50% sucrose; 47% sucrose and 3% NaCl; 40% sucrose; 37% sucrose and 3% NaCl, w/w, 1 hour) and non-treated samples were dried at 70 °C, 2 m/s. The drying kinetics was described according to Fick's Second Law. Effective diffusion coefficients were determined considering the initial thickness and the average thickness of the slices during air-drying. The effective water diffusivities of pre-treated and non-treated samples were similar when average thickness was used. Drying rates of the treated samples were higher than those of the non-treated samples, showing that the pre-treatments enhanced the efficiency of convective drying. The color and the general appearance of the dried pumpkin were improved by the previous treatments in comparison to the non-treated samples.
sucrose; sodium chloride; pumpkin; osmotic dehydration; drying kinetics; effective diffusion coefficients
