Microwave-Assisted Hot Air Drying of Orange Snacks: Drying Kinetics, Thin Layer Modeling, Quality Attributes, and Phenolic Profiles

Citrus fruits, regarded as a prominent fruit crop, are cultivated extensively around the globe and orange (Citrus sinensis L.) is a widely cultivated popular member of the citrus family. Dried oranges have gained recognition as a healthy snack option among consumers and worldwide markets due to the absence of additional ingredients such as sugar and chemicals, whilst yet containing significant natural beneficial components. The drying method is very intriguing due to its ability to facilitate the efficient production, packaging, storage, and transportation of dried oranges at a cost-effective price. In this study, the effects of microwave pretreatment (Mpt) (90 W, 30 min) on hot air drying (HTAD-MW) (60, 70, and 80 degrees C) were investigated, along with the effects on the drying kinetics, rehydration capacity, and quality properties of the orange snack including phenolic compounds (vanillic acid, gallic acid, epicatechin, hesperidin, naringenin, chlorogenic acid, sinapic acid, and o-coumaric acid), antioxidant capacities (with DPPH, FRAP, and CUPRAC methods), and ascorbic acid contents. For modeling the kinetics of orange snack drying in all tests, logarithmic, Wang and Singh's, diffusion approach, two term, and Wang and Sing's models performed best. Hot air drying (HTAD) at 70 degrees C applied orange snacks showed the lowest Delta E*ab value, and the color values were close to those of fresh orange slices. The levels of total and individual phenolics, antioxidant capacity (AC), and ascorbic acid (AA) in dried orange snacks were found to be significantly lower (p < 0.05) than in the fresh orange slices. Results also showed that HTAD-MW-applied orange snacks contained more total phenolic (TP) content, individual phenolic content, and AC but lower AA than HTAD-applied samples. The highest amount of phenolic compound was hesperidin for fresh and dried orange snacks. The method that best preserves the TP content and AC of dried orange snacks was found at the drying condition of HTAD-MW at 60 degrees C. As a conclusion, it was suggested that the use of microwave and hot air combination is a promising method to introduce a new functional healthy snack to the dried product market with high quality.