Puncture force is usually used to measure
the textural properties of dehydrated products which is the
measure of the hardness of the product surface, and presents
the extent of case hardening during drying (Lin et al., 1998).
The hardness value for fresh papaya
Force increases as sugar concentration increases. It was found
that osmosed samples were considerably softer than untreated
samples.From the result it can be concluded that firmness
decreases during storage. Firmness changes during storage
may be a consequence of water loss and cellular breakdown,
due to both microbial growth and biochemical activity