Investigation on drying of brined caper fruits by different methods

The aim of this study is to examine the drying of brined caper fruits by various methods in order to develop a value-added product. For this purpose, firstly, the suitability of pretreatment of capers with ultrasonication (US) was determined. Following this, the kinetic data of the samples, which were applied 10-, 20-, 30- and 40-minutes US as a pretreatment to refractive window drying (RWD), convective drying (CD) and vacuum drying (VD) methods, were obtained and expressed with mathematical models. In addition, effective moisture diffusivities were calculated. In the drying of capers, the effects of US treatment time, drying temperature and drying method factors on drying time, total color change, rehydration rate, hardness and specific energy consumption variables were optimized using experimental design and response surface methodology. The optimum conditions obtained for each drying method were validated experimentally. In the last part of the study, the images obtained during the dehydration and rehydration processes with the CD method were processed with the image processing method and the changes in the geometry were determined. With the microtomography method, the volume change that occurred against time during drying was revealed. Within the scope of this thesis, the most suitable pretreatment and drying conditions for the transformation of caper fruits into a dried product were presented for three different methods.