ABSTRACT:
Osmotic dehydration (OD) is a conservation technique applied to foodstuffs, which promotes partial reduction of water, extends their shelf life and reduces both post-harvest losses and changes in product characteristics. Currently, it has been given emphasis on trying to understand how the process affects the quality of processed vegetables, because process variables can interfere in their antioxidant capacity, color and texture. Moreover, the antioxidant capacity can be affected by chemical changes, leaching losses, reduced moisture and solid gain as well as the present bioactive in the profile of the performed analysis method. In color, the overall changes are caused by temperature increase, which can cause enzymatic and/or non-enzymatic browning, decomposition or entrainment of pigments present in the tissue. Conversely, the osmotic agent has a greater impact on texture, which causes changes in the sensory attributes such as gumminess, even crispness and flavor of the product. Although there is a large number of studies on the OD, the current scenario in terms of effect on the quality of osmodehydrated products are still incipient, especially in relation to antioxidant capacity. Despite the fact that there is a large number of studies on the OD, current efforts are focused on understanding the process effect on the product quality, notably in relation to antioxidant capacity. Thus, further studies on the internal changes in osmodehydrated foods are needed, since there is a variation of process factors, which may have an impact on the different tissues of the fruit and vegetable crops submitted to OD.
Key words:
processing; quality; phytochemicals
