Physical and sensory properties of ready to eat apple chips produced by osmo-convective drying.

The low cost raw material, apple variety Idared, was turned into value-added product, apple chips. The apple chips were produced in a two-step process consisting of osmotic treatment and conventional drying. Osmotic treatment was carried out in 40 % glucose solution at room temperature, followed by convective drying at 105 °C, till reaching water activity of 0.

Application of ultrasound for enhanced extraction of prebiotic oligosaccharides from selected fruits and vegetables.

Ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE) was used to extract oligosaccharides from selected fruits (blueberry, nectarine, raspberry, watermelon) and vegetables (garlic, Jerusalem artichoke, leek, scallion, spring garlic and white onion). The individual fractions of the oligosaccharides were analyzed: 1-kestose (GF2), nystose (GF3) and 1F-β-fructofuranosylnystose (GF4) from the fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS), and raffinose and stachyose from the raffinose family oligosaccharides (RFO). Extraction parameters including solvent concentration (35-85% v/v), extraction temperature (25-50°C) and sonication time (5-15min) were examined using response surface methodology (RSM).

Characterization of multilayered and composite edible films from chitosan and beeswax.

Chitosan-based edible films were prepared and subjected to cross-linking reactions using sodium tripolyphosphate and/or to beeswax coating on both films interfaces. In addition, chitosan-beeswax emulsion-based films were produced. The goal of these modifications of the chitosan films was the improvement of their barrier to water vapor and to decrease their affinity to liquid water maintaining or improving the mechanical and optical properties of the original chitosan films.

Ethanol production using immobilized Saccharomyces cerevisiae in lyophilized cellulose gel.

A new lyophilization technique was used for immobilization of Saccharomyces cerevisiae cells in hydroxyethylcellulose (HEC) gels. The suitability of the lyophilized HEC gels to serve as immobilization matrices for the yeast cells was assessed by calculating the immobilization efficiency and the cell retention in three consecutive batches, each in duration of 72 h. Throughout the repeated batch fermentation, the immobilization efficiency was almost constant with an average value of 0.