2026/07/01 by Halil Esimek, Burcu Dündar Kırıt, Burcu Dündar +2
Agricultural and Biological Sciences · Medicine · #Food Drying and Modeling #Microencapsulation and Drying Processes #Tea Polyphenols and Effects
paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/jfpe.70675
ABSTRACT The effects of dipping pretreatments (potassium carbonate + olive oil or ethyl oleate), drying methods (sun drying and hot air drying), and size reduction (whole and chopped) on drying characteristics and detailed quality parameters of dried red pepper were studied. After optimization of dipping solution pretreatments, the quality parameters included carotenoid compounds as well as safety and microbiological indicators (aflatoxin and total yeast and mold count) of dried peppers were compared. Based on the drying time, the optimum dipping solution concentrations to be applied to fresh red peppers before drying were determined as 7.5% potassium carbonate + 7.5% olive oil and 7.5% potassium carbonate + 5% ethyl oleate using the response surface method. The application of the dipping solutions accelerated the sun drying of fresh red pepper. The application of the dipping solution significantly reduced the drying time of sun‐dried whole peppers, resulting in an approximately 39% decrease compared to the control group (water‐dipped samples). In the hot air drying process, it was determined that the dipping treatments have not a significant effect on the drying time. In terms of bioactive compounds and quality parameters, the hot air dried peppers exhibited higher pungency and ascorbic acid contents compared to sun‐dried samples. The whole peppers retained higher carotenoid levels than chopped ones, with sun‐dried samples showing higher total carotenoid content than hot air‐dried samples. Also, the results indicated that aflatoxin levels in all dried samples remained below the legal limits.