Osmotic Dehydration of Fruits and Vegetables

Dear colleagues,

The aim of this Special Issue of Horticulturae is to present current original research articles as well as review articles focused on the osmotic dehydration of fruits and vegetables. The demand for healthy, natural and flavorsome processed fruits has been increasing continuously, not only for finished products but also for ingredients that can be included in some food formulations such as ice cream, cereals, dairy, confectionery and baked goods. In fact, over the last few decades, many research studies on the processing of fruits and vegetables, meat and fish have been conducted using osmotic dehydration processes. This process consists of the immersion of the product in a concentrated solution (sugar, salt, sorbitol, glycerol), generating a partially dehydrated and impregnated product. Osmotic dehydration has a number of benefits, including low energy consumption and cost compared to other dehydration methods. In addition, it involves the effective inhibition of polyphenoxidase, prevention of the loss of volatile compounds, even under vacuum, and the reduction of heat damage to color and flavor during dehydration. Unfortunately, the osmotic dehydration process is time-consuming and often requires the acceleration of mass transfer using traditional and innovative methods. Traditionally, agitation and rotation are used for this purpose. However, in recent years, new techniques such as pulsed vacuum, high and low pressure, power ultrasound, and pulsed electric fields have successfully been applied to achieve this goal. Nowadays, the industry uses this technique for some previously cut fruit such as apple, banana, mango, and apricot, among others. Therefore, we would like to invite authors to contribute original articles covering the latest research and state-of-the-art review articles regarding osmotic dehydration processes.

Prof. Dr. Bchir Brahim
Prof. Dr. Vincent Leemans
Prof. Dr. Christophe Blecker
Guest Editors

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• osmotic dehydration
• fruits and vegetables
• traditional and innovative processes
• food quality
• osmotic agents
• food formulation