Cinética de secagem de acerola "in natura" em monocamada.

Abstract

The West Indian cherry {Malpighia emarginata DC) also called acerola, has been cultivated in Brazil since more than fifty years ago. It has an ascorbic acid content a hundred time greater then the orange's one. Then, the West Indian cherry could be the natural solution to national vitamin C production. Almost ali of the vegetable products are constituted by more than 80% water. Because of this high moisture content they are very perishable. The West Indian cherry has a moisture content by about 90%. A great portion of the West Indian cherry harvest is commercialized "in natura", needing a process to storage and trade for a longer time period. The drying is one of the most important procedures to preserve foods, by decreasing their water activity, avoiding the deterioration under the fungi and other microorganisms action. In this work it was studied the drying kinetics of the West Indian cherry "in natura" in mono layer, using a laboratory scale dryer. The effect of the drying air temperature between 60 - 90°C, drying air velocity between 0,7 - 1,5 m/s and also the shrinkage and degradation of West Indian cherry color were analyzed. In the experiments, it was confirmed that the air velocity has a little effect on the drying rate. Nevertheless, the drying rate is strongly affected by the air temperature, increasing significantly at high temperatures. The shrinkage and degradation of West Indian cherry color, was observed along the drying process, by means of pictures. Empiric equations to describe the West Indian cherry drying kinetics were proposed, including the shrinkage effect.