The Effectiveness of Vacuum-microwave Drying Methods in the Preservation of Amelanchier Berries (Amelanchier canadensis L. Medik.)

Abstract

Abstract In Poland, Amelanchier berries are of considerable interest to both consumers and potential producers, which presents marketing challenges and opportunities. An attempt was made to preserve Amelanchier berries using a vacuum-microwave method of drying in order to determine its usefulness for producing microbiologically stable dried fruit with a high nutritional values. The berry variety “Prince William” (Amelanchier canadensis) was chosen as the experimental material. Vacuum-microwave drying was performed in two variants: (convective drying [CD] + vacuum microwave method [VMW]) after convective pre-drying of fruit and (VMW) without pre-drying. Unassisted CD was used as the reference method. Application of a vacuum-microwave drying method to Amelanchier berries makes it possible to obtain a stable preserved product of high-quality, yielding moderate shrinkage and good retention of bioactive compounds. An optimized method of vacuum-microwave drying, applied directly to frozen fruit, allows the retention of 70 % of cyanidin glycosides present in the raw material.