Abstract

Golden berry (Physalis peruviana L.) has scientifically proven medicinal properties. This research was aimed to investigate the effect of alkaline ethyl oleate and sucrose solution pretreatments as well as drying temperature on the drying kinetics of golden berry. Based on this, golden berries were dipped in alkaline ethyl oleate solution (2% ethyl oleate + 4% potassium carbonate) at 25°C or in osmotic solution (40% sucrose) at 60°C. After those pretreatments, air drying characteristics of golden berry (P. peruviana L.) were investigated at 70, 75, 80 and 85°C with 1.5 m/s air flow rate. Also, golden berries were dried without pretreatment and taken as a control. The experimental data was fitted to Page model. Two statistical tools were used to quantify the goodness of fitting: the determination of coefficient and the reduced chi-square. Obtained effective diffusivity for pretreatment of alkaline ethyl oleate and sucrose solution and untreated samples varied between 1.94 to 3.19·10^-9 m²/s, 1.21 to 2.93·10^-9 and 1.66 to 2.67·10^-9 m²/s respectively.

Key words: Physalis perviana L., alkaline ethyl oleato, osmotic dehydration, effective diffusivity, Page model