Effect of pretreatments and drying methods on some qualities of dried mango (Mangifera indica) fruit

The effect of pretreatments and drying methods on some qualities of dried mango fruits was studied. The fruit slices were pretreated with three pretreatments – ascorbic acid dip at 31% w v-1 concentration, honey dip at 20% v v-1 concentration and steam blanching at a temperature of120°C and dried using three drying methods (sun, solar and oven drying). In sun and solar drying the mango was dried for eight hours, while for oven drying six hours at an average temperature of32°C,41°C and65°C respectively. Sliced mango fruits were soaked in the prepared solutions for four minutes, while the blanching was done for two minutes. There were control samples for each drying methods. Drying curves were generated and the drying rate, proximate composition, vitamin C and β-carotene contents of the dried fruits were determined. The result showed that the pretreatment methods used did not have effect on the drying rate. The nutrient analysis showed that mango samples treated with honey solution had the highest retention of vitamin C (140.35 mg per100 g) in sun drying method compared to ascorbic acid treated, steam blanched and control samples. Also, for β-carotene, honey treated samples had the highest value of 5921.90 µg per100 g across the drying methods. Proximate composition of the pretreated dried mango samples revealed that they are rich in vitamin C and β-carotene (antioxidant) which makes them healthy and nourishing and also important ingredient in the food industry for the production of food supplements and other functional foods.