Optimization of osmotic dehydration of cherry by response surface methodology

Industrial applications of osmotic dehydration (OD) of fruit and vegetables have reached considerable interest in the last years as a feasible alternative to conventional air drying, since OD removes water content at reduced energy costs while preserving aroma and functional compounds. In this work, the optimization of a procedure to remove water of cherry cultivar 'Van' by OD has been carried out using design of experiments and response surface methodology. The optimal conditions for OD were: 70 °Brix sucrose solutions; 18 h osmotic dehydration time; 45°C solution temperature; fruit-solution ratio of 1:2, and oven drying for 1 h at 70°C. Finally, optimal conditions were scaled to pilot plant, where results were in agreement with those obtained at laboratory scale. Noteworthy, the resulting material achieved by this process conserves the chromatic properties of the initial product.