Desenvolvimento do processo de secagem de cebolinha (allium fistulosum)

Abstract

Chives are widely used in oriental and Brazilian cuisine, adding flavor to fried vegetables, salads and special soups. Its post-harvest durability is very short, mainly due to its high metabolic rate and high water content. Food dehydration is important as itis an efficient and low-cost technique. The objective of the work wasto determine the technical parametersand drying curve of the chives.The raw material used was adquida in the market of Montes Claros, MG.Were sanitized, cleaned and cut manually. The analysis of initial moisture, total soluble solids, pH, titratable acidity and color evaluation, the same analyzeswere performedon the raw material and dehydrated productIt was shown that to reach 0.06 dimensionless moisture content, 4.5 hours of drying, at a temperature of 65ºC, are necessary. The loss of moisture at the beginning of drying is very high, due to the fact that much of the water is in its free form on the surface of the chives, being, in this form, easily removed. It is also verified that the dehydrated product showed a color loss of 5.95 (∆E), which shows the difference in the color of the dehydrated product. It is concluded that the second-degree polynomial model fits well to the experimental data of the chive drying curve. The drying process influences the product's color by modifying its physicochemical characteristics.