Analysis of moisture content and density of pears during drying

Solar dried pears of the "S. Bartolomeu" variety are a very much appreciated and preferred dried food product in Portugal. Nevertheless, the traditional solar drying is carried out at open air during the months of July and August, and this nowadays is a disadvantage for larger productions. This work is to evaluate the possibility of producing dried pears from this and other varieties, maintaining the characteristics of the traditional dried pears. In this study four different types of pears were studied, including "S. Bartolomeu" as a basis for comparison and the drying method employed was the traditional one. From the results it was concluded that, although the behaviour of the four varieties do not vary significantly, one particular variety ("D. Joaquina") is a good alternative to the "S. Bartolomeu" pear.