Influence of Drying Method on Some Physical and Chemical Properties of Pears.

Abstract

In Portugal, pears are traditionally dried by a direct sun-exposure method. However, because of the disadvantages associated with this procedure, alternative dryings are being tested. The objectives of this study were to evaluate how drying influences some properties of the dried pears, namely moisture, dimensions, water activity, pH, º Brix, acidity and color. In particular, this last characteristic is quite important, since color is a very important quality attribute of these dried pears. Thus, the different systems should allow obtaining products with the same color as the traditional. From the results obtained was possible to see that dryings in systems with exposure to the sun (through glass) allow obtaining products that do not differ much from the traditional dried pears, either in terms of color, or in terms of other properties.