Evaluation of Ethyl Oleate, Sodium Chloride and Blanching Pretreatments on Vacuum Drying of Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annum)

Introduction Sweet Pepper (Capsicum annum) has a very important place among the vegetables produced in the world. Therefore, it is necessary to apply practical solutions to increase their sustainability to develop and improve production. The growing consumer rejection of chemical additives and the demand for more natural products have increased attention to some methods, including the drying method. One of the physical changes that occur during the drying of food is its reduction in volume. Vacuum drying is a method in which water and other solvents that have been absorbed into the volume or surface of the material are removed. Combining vacuum with heating can be an effective way to dry; because in this case, a high level of dryness can be achieved without the need for a large increase in temperature. A thermal process that is applied to vegetables and fruits as a pre-process step for freezing, drying and canning to inactivating enzymes, modifying texture, preserving flavor and nutrients, and extracting Interstitial air. Materials and Methods This study aimed to investigate the impact of various factors ethyloleate (concentrations 0,2,4%), sodium chloride(concentrations 0,2,4%) and blanching on the drying kinetics, physical properties, chemical composition and nutrients of green bell pepper, dried under vacuum at 60°C and pressure of 10 kpa using the response surface methodology. At the end of the drying time, 10 g of the treated samples were weighted to investigate the drying kinetics and the rest of the samples were kept for analysis. To achieve the drying kinetics, the samples were taken out of the oven (Behdad Company, model 3494, made in Iran) at 30 minute intervals and weighed by a digital scale, and dried down to moisture content of 12% ., and then for relevant analyzes on dried samples, the samples were stored in plastic packages until the day of experiments. Investigation of independent and interaction effects of immersion in different concentrations of sodium chloride and ethyloleate solution on the kinetics and drying time separately in blanching and non-blanching samples on the parameters of color, chlorophyll content, phenolic substances and vitamin C remaining in dried Sweet peppers were evaluated using minitab16 software and response level method (RSM). Results and Discussion The results showed that the drying process occur in the range of falling rate and also effect blanching in boiling water for 3 minutes and immersed in an alkal