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Osmotic dehydration is an operation used for the partial removal of water from plant tissues by immersion in a hypertonic (osmotic) solution.
Sugar or salt solutions are used to reduce the moisture content of foods before actual drying process. This technique is used to give the product quality improvement over conventional drying process. Mild heat treatment after osmotic dehydration favours colour and flavour retention resulting in the product having superior organoleptic characteristics. It also increases resistance to heat treatment, prevents enzymatic browning and inhibits activities of polyphenol oxidase. The process is economical.
Osmotic dehydration depends on:
- Temperature of osmotic solution.
- Concentration of the osmotic solution.
- Osmotic agent used.
- Process duration.
- Geometry of food material.