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<p>In the last decade, organic-based food materials have taken an increasing marketing sharedue to consumers’ interests. Strawberry is one of the world’s most important berry crops, withgrowing production. This study aimed to evaluate the drying process of organic strawberries andto determine the influences of process conditions on drying characteristics. To improve dryingperformance, carbonic maceration (CM) was investigated as a pre-treatment. The experimentaldesign and the optimization of the drying with pre-treatment conditions were performed usingstatistical modeling (response surface method (RSM), central composite design (CCD)). Using theRSM, dependent variables such as drying time, total phenolic compound, antioxidant capacity,ascorbic acid concentration, and hue value were optimized as a function of operating conditions ofCM pre-treatment and following the drying process. The results indicated that drying performancevaried depending on drying temperature as well as process conditions of CM. Drying time wasreduced by more than 30% with CM treatment compared to control. Furthermore, ascorbic acidcontent, antioxidant activity, and surface color of dried samples were protected better in the caseof CM-pre-treated strawberries. Results showed that the optimum drying temperature, macerationpressure, maceration temperature, and maceration time parameters were 64.8 ◦C, 3.54 bar, 4.2 ◦C, and4 h, respectively. The high potential of CM should be considered in terms of process improvementand product quality for drying processes. Thus, this study provides key outcomes in this respect.According to the obtained results, the CM was assessed as a promising technique applied before thedrying of organic strawberries. <br></p> |
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