Effects of Pre-Treatment on the drying characteristics of Squash (Cucurbita maxima)
| dc.contributor.author | Joycelle B. Peralta | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-05-04T02:27:01Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2026-05-04T02:27:01Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2023 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Squash (Cucurbita maxima) is one of the vegetables with high nutritional content that may be utilized in a range of foods and medications. The study was conducted to determine the effects of pre-treatment on the drying characteristics of squash using Multi-Commodity Solar Tunnel Dryer (MCSTD). The drying characteristics and quality attributes of dried products can be influenced by the pre-treatments and drying method. As pre-treatment of squash, blanching at different temperature and brining at different amount of salt solution applied to improve the quality of dried squash. Evaluation of the MCSTD for drying of the abovementioned commodity determined the effects of the pre-treatments in terms of drying capacity, drying period, and the moisture reduction rate. Also, drying characteristics and quality attributes were determined. The drying zone labeled as Block I, Block II and Block III. Block I was placed near the blower. Block II was placed at the middle part and the Block III was placed at end part of dryer. Based on the results of the study, the temperature near the blower (Block I) got the lowest temperature and highest relative humidity among the blocks. Also, the weight of the sliced squash near the blower (Block I) has a lower moisture reduction loss. In contrast, the drying zone at the end part of the dryer (Block III) exhibited a superior moisture loss, since the temperature at the end part of the dryer is the highest from 11:00 am-5:00pm. The results indicate that drying temperature has a direct relationship with moisture reduction. The drying lasted for 4 days to attain the ideal mositure content for the safe storage of dried squash which is 5% so it significantly affects the color. As a result, brining at 5% salt solution (STI) was the darkest among other treatments, while the samples dipped in tap water for 10 minutes (Control 2) are the highest. On the other hand, moisture content of blanching is low compared to salting, after drying. Total Soluble Solids (TSS) of dried squash except brining at 5% salt solution (STI) and brining at 5% salt solution (STI) and brining at 10% salt solution (ST2) was found to be higher when compared to the TSS content of fresh squash. However, brining at 15% salt solution (ST3) exhibited superior among other with respect to TSS. Brining has a water activity ranging from 0.48-0.60, whereas the water activity in blanching were ranging from 0.44-0.46 only. Samples washed only in tap water (Control 1) and samples pre-treated with 5% salt solution (ST1) exhibited a superior quality in terms of color, taste, flavor, mouth-feel, overall acceptability, and preference of evaluators. Moreover, samples pre-treated with 5% salt solution (ST1) was considered to be the optimum pre-treatment among others, since the rating description for individual attribute liking in terms of overall acceptability has a rating description of "like moderately". | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://granarium.clsu.edu.ph/handle/123456789/1295 | |
| dc.language.iso | en_US | |
| dc.title | Effects of Pre-Treatment on the drying characteristics of Squash (Cucurbita maxima) | |
| dc.type | Thesis |