Thermophysical properties of foods can also be determined by
inverse methods, which are based on the numerical solution of the
transient heat transfer problem, followed by an optimization procedure to obtain the parameters considered therein. However, this methodology is complex given the great amount of information required. Another method of obtaining thermal properties of foods, which is based on the centesimal composition, can be used. This technique calculates the thermophysical properties based on the values for each pure component of the food, such as moisture, fat, proteins, and ashes. Based on this method, different authors have compiled prediction equations for various food products' thermophysical properties. Despite the extensive data of thermophysical properties of foods available in literature, there are few studies applied to unripe banana under thermal processing.