Influence of some browning treatments on the quality of the apple Ohio Beauty processed by freezing and freeze drying

Abstract

The influence of three browning treatments (blanching, ascorbic acid and SO2) on the quality of frozen and freeze-dried apple slices of the variety Ohio Beauty was studied. Immediately upon arrival, one third of the fruits was processed. Another third was held in storage at 1°C for three weeks and the remainder was left under the same conditions for six weeks, being both immediately processed after their respective storage time. The results showed that for freezing, blanching was the best browning treatment for all atributes of quality, except for color, in which the ascorbic acid was more efficient. The latter treatment was slightly superior to S0(2) in terms of overall quality. For freeze-drying, the treatment with S0(2) was superior to blanching in terms of flavor and overall quality, but it was inferior in terms of color. None of the treatments, however, controlled the browning of the freeze-dried product efficiently.