Use of Decompression Instant Vacuum (DIC) Method into Vegetal Snack Production from Dehydrated Apple (Cv. Reineta) and Pear (Cv.Conferencia)

De la Fuente M^1*, Folgueral O², Prieto B³, Fresno J M³ and González-Raurich M³

¹Dept. of Crop Production, U.P.M. (Madrid, Spain), 28040
²Dept. of R&D at Folgueral y Arias S.L. Company, (Ponferrada, Spain)
³Dept. of Food Hygiene and Food Technology, University of Leon, (León, Spain).

One of the raising dehydration techniques more recently developed is instant decompression controlled vacuum (DIC; Détente instantannée Contrôlée), which causes a modification of micro- and macrostructure of food causing an expansion of the product, which improves their texture, color and rehydration capacity. The objective of this study was to evaluate specifically cultivars of pear (Conferencia) and apple (Reineta) from Bierzo (León, Spain) as raw material during processing from dehydrated process (DIC) and determines their suitability for snack industrial applications.

To this end, samples of each fruit species were taken at harvest (0 weeks), and after 6 and 12 weeks of storage, peeled and sliced in two formats (2 and 4 mm). Several parameters were measured before (ºBrix, firmness and weight loss) and after (moisture content and water activity) DIC process.

Results indicate that apple shows more stable for any format-studied compare to pear during DIC process, since it presented less variability (17%) than pear (46%) according to the applied format. The format modifies aw values registered during the entire DIC process; because 2mm slices have lower water activity and moisture content values than 4mm slices. Apple marks hardness parameters along its storage (<4.5 kg·cm^-2), that provided greater firmness and consistency than pear along storage, so all studied parameters reflected that apple was more suitable for DIC process than pear.

Reineta apple;Bierzo;Conferencia pear;DIC process;activity water;moisture content; ºBrix;snacks dried

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