Optimization of osmotic dehydration of radish in sugar solution

Abstract

Response surface methodology was used to determine the optimum processing conditions that yield maximum water loss and weight reduction and minimum solid gain during osmotic dehydration of radish in sugar solution. The experiments were conducted according to Central Composite Design (CCD). The independent process variables for osmotic dehydration process were temperature (25 - 45°C), processing time (30 -150 minutes), sugar concentration (20 - 60% w/w) and solution to sample to ratio (5:1 - 25:1 w/w). The osmotic dehydration process was optimized for water loss, solute gain, and weight reduction. The optimum conditions were found to be: temperature - 38°C, immersion time - 100 min, sugar concentration - 48% and solution to sample ratio 16:1. At this optimum point, water loss, solid gain and weight reduction were found to be 69.98 (g/100 g initial sample), 3.36 (g/100 g initial sample) and 66.61 (g/100 g initial sample) respectively.