The water contents of the fresh and osmotically dehydrated
samples were gravimetrically determined in triplicate by drying
the samples in a vacuum oven at 60 C and 10 kPa to constant
weight. The total and reducing sugar contents of the fresh and
osmotically treated samples were determined in triplicate by the
oxidation–reduction titration method (AOAC, 1970). The calcium
concentrations of the fresh and dehydrated samples were determined
in duplicate using flame atomic absorption spectrometer
(SpectrAA 50B of Varian – Mulgrave, Australia), according to
adapted AOAC (1995) methodology. The water activity of the samples
was measured in triplicate at 25 C in a hygrometer (AW
SPRINT; NOVASINA, Switzerland). The color of the fresh and
osmotically dehydrated fruits was evaluated (4 replicates) using
a Colorflex spectrophotometer (HunterLab, USA) with version
4.10 of the Universal software. The response was expressed in
the form of the parameters L (lightness: 100 for white and 0 for
black) and Chroma (C):