Drying Modeling and Comprehensive Quality Analysis of Rosa roxburghii Tratt Fruit

This study aimed to scientifically and reasonably select a practical drying technology for Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruit that allows minimum quality changes and nutritional losses during the drying process. Hot air drying and far-infrared drying were comparatively applied to fresh and frozen fruit, and the drying processes were modeled. Meanwhile, the technique for order preference by similarity to an ideal solution (TOPSIS) and electronic nose technology were applied respectively to evaluate the comprehensive quality and flavor characteristics of the dried products in order to determine the optimal drying conditions. The results showed that page model had the highest fitting degree for hot air and far-infrared drying of fresh fruit and far-infrared drying of frozen fruit, whereas the Diffusion approximation model revealed the best fitting degree for hot air drying of frozen fruit. The models could describe and predict the drying processes. When frozen fruit were dried by far-infrared drying at 50℃, the rehydration rate was 7.41, the browning degree was 0.103, 29.39% of VC, 39.54% of total phenols, 13.58% of reducing sugar and 11.09% of total flavonoids were lost, and the Ci value was 0.958,which was the closest to the ideal solution; similarly, the flavor of the dried product was the closest to fresh fruit, indicating that the drying method and drying conditions provided the best comprehensive quality of dried Rosa roxburghii Tratt fruit. © 2020, China Food Publishing Company. All right reserved.