State-of-the-art on the Dehydration and Drying of Cucurbita Species

Cucurbita species (pumpkin, squash or gourd) are native to North America and are cultivated for several thousand years. They are used as food and feed, but also in personal care, folk medicine as anthelmintic, art and festivals such as Halloween. This review focuses on the dehydration and drying of the pulp of edible pumpkin such as C. moschata, C. maxima, or C. pepo. Dehydration processes refer to water removal by hot air or heated surfaces, while drying processes are more general. In this review, the state-of-the-art related to the methods and techniques of pumpkin dehydration and drying was revealed. Among classical drying methods (sun drying, convective or forced-convective air-drying, freeze-drying, microwave drying), the recent advances on the drying techniques including osmotic, far-infrared, vacuum drying and especially combined techniques were discussed. Finally, the influence of pretreatments and drying on the quality and composition of pumpkin as well as the kinetics and models of the drying process were presented. The overview on the dehydration and drying of pumpkin allows selecting the most appropriate processing techniques for obtaining some food products or food ingredients with high shelf life and quality.