Formación de geles de tomate (laminados) mediante deshidratación con aire caliente

FIORENTINI, CECILIA; GIANNUZZI, LEDA; GINER, SERGIO ADRIÁN

ITAL, Campinas, SP, Brasil

Simposio; Simposio Brasileiro sobre desenvolvimento de novos produtos alimenticios. Alimentos funcionais e para fins especiais; 2006

Instituto de Tecnología de Alimentos, Estado de Sao Paulo, Brasil

Abstract The objective set for this work was to develop a novel producto, “tomato puree laminates” by dehydration in heated air. In this product, dehydration is not only used as a preservation method, but also as a processing stage to form a shelf-stable product at room temperature. Product formation was based on the sugar-acid-pectin gelation mechanism, so the solute content (generally sugars) was adjusted to attain, by drying, the minimum concentration of 55% w/w needed for gelation. The innovative feature of this method is precisely to concentrate the solutes by dehydration. Laminates were formulated with pureed pear-shaped tomato because of its high dry matter content. Tomato, however, is relatively low in pectin, so citric pectin powder was added to assist gel formation during drying. The drying kinetics of the product was studied at several temperatures as well as kinetic coefficients relationships. Predictions were fairly accurate. The dehydrated product thus obtained ( aww = 0,7) resulted of flexible texture and fine organoleptic attributes. Further research must be done to assess the shelf life in different storage conditions.