Drying of Cherry Laurel Juice Using Foam Mat Drying Technique and Investigating the Effect of Drying Temperature on Drying Characteristics and Bioactive Components

Abstract

This study aimed to optimize the foam properties for the foam mat drying (FMD) process and investigate the effect of drying temperatures (60, 70, and 80 °C) on the cherry laurel juice's drying characteristics and bioactive properties. Egg white protein (EWP), carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), and mixing time (MT) variables were optimized using the Taguchi method to achieve the juice foam with maximum foam capacity and stability. The optimal conditions determined were 10% EWP, 0.3% CMC, and 12 min of MT. The drying times and effective moisture diffusivities (Deff) for 60, 70, and 80 °C were recorded as 160, 120 and 90 min and 6.09×10-9, 7.74×10-9 and 11.33×10-9 m2/s, respectively. As the drying temperature increased, the total phenolic and total monomeric anthocyanin contents, and antioxidant activity values increased, but ascorbic acid content decreased. This research demonstrates that the FMD process can successfully be applied to dry juices with pronounced bioactive properties.