Enhancing the quality of pear candies via jaggery‐based osmotic dehydration: Optimization and analysis

Abstract Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) is a healthy fruit; however, its availability is limited in certain seasons due to short shelf life. To overcome this limitation, a cost‐effective dehydration‐based preservation involving osmotic dehydration process with jaggery as a pretreatment, followed by drying i...

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Main Authors: Gurpreet Dhillion, Amardeep Kour, Navjot Gupta, Padma Nath Atreya
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2025-03-01
Series:Future Postharvest and Food
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/fpf2.12043
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author Gurpreet Dhillion
Amardeep Kour
Navjot Gupta
Padma Nath Atreya
author_facet Gurpreet Dhillion
Amardeep Kour
Navjot Gupta
Padma Nath Atreya
author_sort Gurpreet Dhillion
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) is a healthy fruit; however, its availability is limited in certain seasons due to short shelf life. To overcome this limitation, a cost‐effective dehydration‐based preservation involving osmotic dehydration process with jaggery as a pretreatment, followed by drying in a cabinet dryer was explored. The Box–Behnken design was used to optimize the key factors: immersion time (hour), temperature (°C), and jaggery concentration (°Brix) which were employed with the aim to maximize water loss (WL) and overall acceptability (OA) while minimizing solute gain (SG) and achieving the ideal hardness in the resulting pear candy with an OA score. After optimization, immersing the pear for 3 h, maintaining the osmotic solution at 45°C, and using a jaggery concentration of 52°Brix resulted in a WL of 40%, with an SG of 9.5%. The hardness of the resulting pear candy was 3.20 N with an OA score of 7.65. Pear slices were processed using the optimized osmotic dehydration conditions, followed by conventional drying with an air convective dryer at 50°C. Further characterized, the jaggery‐osmosed pear candy was compared with traditional sucrose‐based pear candy. Our findings suggest that using jaggery as an osmotic agent improved the candy's mineral profile and improved consumer acceptability, making it a suitable alternative to the standard production method.
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spelling doaj-art-1a761e072c4f492da4b9fc742db353602025-08-20T02:55:04ZengWileyFuture Postharvest and Food2837-68462025-03-0121404910.1002/fpf2.12043Enhancing the quality of pear candies via jaggery‐based osmotic dehydration: Optimization and analysisGurpreet Dhillion0Amardeep Kour1Navjot Gupta2Padma Nath Atreya3Punjab Agricultural University Regional Research Station Bathinda IndiaPunjab Agricultural University Regional Research Station Faridkot IndiaPunjab Agricultural University Regional Research Station Bathinda IndiaMoALD Temperate Horticulture Development Center Mustang NepalAbstract Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia) is a healthy fruit; however, its availability is limited in certain seasons due to short shelf life. To overcome this limitation, a cost‐effective dehydration‐based preservation involving osmotic dehydration process with jaggery as a pretreatment, followed by drying in a cabinet dryer was explored. The Box–Behnken design was used to optimize the key factors: immersion time (hour), temperature (°C), and jaggery concentration (°Brix) which were employed with the aim to maximize water loss (WL) and overall acceptability (OA) while minimizing solute gain (SG) and achieving the ideal hardness in the resulting pear candy with an OA score. After optimization, immersing the pear for 3 h, maintaining the osmotic solution at 45°C, and using a jaggery concentration of 52°Brix resulted in a WL of 40%, with an SG of 9.5%. The hardness of the resulting pear candy was 3.20 N with an OA score of 7.65. Pear slices were processed using the optimized osmotic dehydration conditions, followed by conventional drying with an air convective dryer at 50°C. Further characterized, the jaggery‐osmosed pear candy was compared with traditional sucrose‐based pear candy. Our findings suggest that using jaggery as an osmotic agent improved the candy's mineral profile and improved consumer acceptability, making it a suitable alternative to the standard production method.https://doi.org/10.1002/fpf2.12043jaggeryosmotic dehydrationPyrus pyrifoliasolute gainwater loss
spellingShingle Gurpreet Dhillion
Amardeep Kour
Navjot Gupta
Padma Nath Atreya
Enhancing the quality of pear candies via jaggery‐based osmotic dehydration: Optimization and analysis
Future Postharvest and Food
jaggery
osmotic dehydration
Pyrus pyrifolia
solute gain
water loss
title Enhancing the quality of pear candies via jaggery‐based osmotic dehydration: Optimization and analysis
title_full Enhancing the quality of pear candies via jaggery‐based osmotic dehydration: Optimization and analysis
title_fullStr Enhancing the quality of pear candies via jaggery‐based osmotic dehydration: Optimization and analysis
title_full_unstemmed Enhancing the quality of pear candies via jaggery‐based osmotic dehydration: Optimization and analysis
title_short Enhancing the quality of pear candies via jaggery‐based osmotic dehydration: Optimization and analysis
title_sort enhancing the quality of pear candies via jaggery based osmotic dehydration optimization and analysis
topic jaggery
osmotic dehydration
Pyrus pyrifolia
solute gain
water loss
url https://doi.org/10.1002/fpf2.12043
work_keys_str_mv AT gurpreetdhillion enhancingthequalityofpearcandiesviajaggerybasedosmoticdehydrationoptimizationandanalysis
AT amardeepkour enhancingthequalityofpearcandiesviajaggerybasedosmoticdehydrationoptimizationandanalysis
AT navjotgupta enhancingthequalityofpearcandiesviajaggerybasedosmoticdehydrationoptimizationandanalysis
AT padmanathatreya enhancingthequalityofpearcandiesviajaggerybasedosmoticdehydrationoptimizationandanalysis