Freeze drying of taflan (karayemiş) (Prunus laurocerasus L.) fruit and its testing in sample food systems

The aim of this study is to obtain the powdered form of cherry laurel puree to be used it in the food formulation and deserts, to increase the shelf life and to enhance the storage and handling properties. For this reason, cherry laurel was blended to obtain puree which was prepared in petri dishes with different thicknesses (3, 5, and 7mm), frozen (2 hours) at −24°C in a freezer and freeze dried in a vacuum (13.33Pa absolute pressure), at a −48°C condenser temperature. The drying behavior of puree was determined and the drying efficiency was calculated. The powder was obtained by processing the dried material in a home type blender. The physical (moisture content, water activity, pH, color), chemical (total phenolic content, total antioxidant capacity, and vitamin C content) and powder product properties (wettability, solubility, dispersibility, bulk and tapped bulk densities, flowability and cohesiveness, caking degree, hyroscopicity) of the powder product obtained in the drying process have been examined. In addition, SEM images of the powder taked and the glass transition temperature were determined. It was also aimed to the test acceptability of the ice-cream that containts cherry laurel powder. The drying time of the cherry laurel puree increased according to the sample thickness and the drying time ranged between 8 and 11 hours. The effective moisture diffusivity values are calculated as between 7.303E-10 and 2.028E-09m2/s. Moisture extraction rate (MER) and specific moisture extraction rate (SMER) values of samples increased, and specific energy consumption (SEC) values of samples decreased depending on increasing drying thickness. The moisture content (<%10) and water activity (<0.30) values of cherry laurel powders were in the acceptable limits. The average total phenolic compounds and the vitamin C content values were 710mg GAE/100g (dry base (db)) and 23 mg/100g (db) respectively. It has been determined that cherry laurel powders have high wettability and solubility characteristics. When SEM images are examined, it can be said the powders have flake like shape. According to the results of sensory analysis, the ice cream with15% cherry laurel powder had the highest score and consumability of taflan powder was determined. Keywords: cherry laurel, freeze drying, thin layer drying modelling, drying efficiency, physical properties, chemical properties, powders properties.