Osmotic Dehydration of banana species Musa Paradisiaca y Musa Cavendish

LAURA ARIZA; RODOLFO MASCHERONI; PATRICIA DELLA ROCCA; LUIS ALBERTO ROCHE

Cesena

Congreso; International Conference on Food innova 2017; 2017

Universidad de Bologna

The Musa Cavendish specie is edible when its fresh but the Musa Paradisiaca needs cooking before eating because of its high starch content. Both species belong to the Musaceae family and they are originally from Southwest Asia. The banana species are very rich in potassium and magnesium mineral contents but poor in calcium. With the purpose of improving the nutritional and textural characteristics, calcium was added during the osmotic dehydration. Osmotic dehydration OD consists of partial dewatering and impregnation with solutes of food pieces by immersion in concentrated solutions. In this way, the water activity of the product is reduced, extending its shelf-life and nutrients such as minerals can be added. Also, the time of the posterior process necessary for obtaining a stable product - such as freezing, drying, freeze-drying, etc. -, diminishes.