Effects of Osmotic dehydration on water loss, solids
gain, and weight reduction during osmotic dehydration were
investigated in order to determine the usefulness of this
technique as pre-treatment for further drying of bananas slices.
Banana slices, 10 mm thick, were immersed in sucrose solutions
with concentrations of 30, 40 and 50 Brix at 40, 50 and 600C for
60, 90 and 120 minutes. Water loss, weight reduction and solids
gain increased with treatment time. Longer treatment time in
high concentrations of sucrose resulted in a very soft product,
which is difficult to handle and unsuitable for further drying.
Increasing concentration at the same temperature did not cause
significant increments in weight change. Higher concentrations
of sucrose caused higher rates of water removal.