Not AvailableThe hot air convective drying characteristics of
blanched tomato (Lycopersicon esculantum L.) slices have
been investigated. Drying experiments were carried out at
four different temperatures (50, 60, 65 and 70 °C). The
effect of drying temperatures on the drying behavior of the
tomato slices was evaluated. All drying experiments had
only falling rate period. The average effective diffusivity
values varied from 0.5453×10−9 to 2.3871×10−9 m2/s over
the temperature range studied and the activation energy was
estimated to be 61.004 kJ/mol. In order to select a suitable
form of the drying curve, six different thin layer drying
models (Henderson–Pabis, Page, Diamante et al., Wang and
Singh, Logarithmic and Newton models) were fitted to the
experimental data. The goodness of fit tests indicated that
the Logarithmic model gave the best fit to experimental
results, which was closely followed by the Henderson–
Pabis model. The influence of varied drying temperatures
on quality attributes of the tomato slices viz. Hunter color
parameters, ascorbic acid, lycopene, titratable acidity, total
sugars, reducing sugars and sugar/acid ratio of dried slices
was also studied. Slices dried at 50 and 60 °C had high
amount of total sugars, lycopene, sugar/acid ratio, Hunter
L- and a-values. Drying of slices at 50 °C revealed
optimum retention of ascorbic acid, sugar/acid ratio and
red hue, whereas, drying at higher temperature (65 and 70 °
C) resulted in a considerable decrease in nutrients and
colour quality of the slicesNot Availabl
