A research on the production technique of dehydrated apple chips

This research was undertaken to investigate the effects of use of various solutions on product some attributes in the production of apple chips. The apple varieties which were investigated are Amasya, Golden delicious and Starkrimson delicious. The apples which were sliced in rings with a 1.6 mm thickness had been kept in sulpurdioxide (SO2), citric acid (CA), ascorbic acid (AA), erythorbic acid (EA), mixture of "CA+AA" and "CA+EA" solutions before they were dehydrated. The dehydration was carried out at 75°C in a batch dehydrator with hot air current The dehydrated apples were packed and stored at room temperature for 8 months. The following analyses were carried out during storage: Hunter values, browning levels, total phenolic compounds, L-ascorbic acid, total and invert sugars, total acidity, total dry matter, crispness values, rehydration capacity and sensory evaluation. The samples which were kept in S02 solutions and then dehydrated had the lightest color (78.52 -83.43 Hunter L values). It was found that the solutions of CA, AA and EA had no preserving effects on the color of the dehydrated samples. Furthermore the effects of the aforementioned solutions were similar to those of the control groups or even worse. The use of mixtures of "CA+AA" and "CA+EA" produced positive results only with Golden variety. The results of sensory evaluations were in parallel with Hunter values. The results showed that the color of the chips from Golden variety was the closest to fresh apple color. The highest chips yield was obtained with Golden variety. The chips from Amasya variety had the most crispy texture and the highest rehydration capacity. The sensory evaluations showed that the chips from Golden variety were highly preferred. Key Words: Apple, Dehydrated Apple, Browning, Ascorbic Acid, Sulphurdioxide.