Search

Date and carob syrups are traditional foods produced and consumed in several countries, including Tunisia. Each syrup is characterized by its interesting nutritional and bioactive composition. Several studies have been carried out on the production and characterization of each syrup separately, but this study tends to compare the aromatic, physico-chemical, nutritional and functional properties of commercial carob and date syrups. The results showed a comparable aromatic composition whose major compounds are terpenes (carvone and menthol), a difference in color since carob syrup was characterized by a darker brown color, a nutritional composition rich in sugars and a difference in functional properties since carob syrup had greater emulsifying capacity and antioxidant activity. Thus, the characteristics of carob and date syrups encourage their use in the food industry according to the appropriate product.

Modeling of food moisture content is of interest to correlate experimental data during the storage and packaging to predict the shelf life of the products. An advanced model using statistical physics formalism is used to interpret and discuss the sorption isotherm of water into banana. The desorption isotherms are obtained by the gravimetric static method at three temperatures (35 °C, 50 °C and 70 °C). The fitting allows interpreting the process at microscopic level. A steric interpretation by the mean of the number of molecules per site (n) allows describing the manner of desanchoring from the surface whereas the monolayer quantity Q0 is in relationship with the density of receptor sites NM represents an important parameter for industrial food. An energetic interpretation allows deducing the desorption energy of water during the desorption. By the mean of the statistical model, we calculated the pore size distribution (PSD) the surface of banana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The by-product generated from carob molasses processing is considered as an excellent source of dietary fiber and may be used as a functional ingredient in food industry. However, it presents a high value of water activity (~ 0.98) which facilitates its microbiological contamination and rapid deterioration. So that, this study provides a solution for the valorization of this by-product and suggests the incorporation of the dried carob by-product into Halva to produce an added value product (Halva with carob powder). Thus, the present work focused on the characterization of carob powder and the optimisation of incorporation percentage of carob powder into Halva formulation. The characterization showed the absence of caffein in carob powder compared to cocoa's one. Besides, carob and cocoa powders had both a brown color. The former had lower fat and higher sugar contents compared to the latter. The optimization promoted the addition of 5% carob powder into Halva formulation according to the evaluation of hardness, sensory quality and exudative stability. Therefore, the new confectionary product could be considered as a promising nutritious and healthy foodstuff to consumers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study was designed to evaluate the nutritional composition of melon pulp Maazoun variety, in order to explore its potential attitude as a natural source of nutrients and bioactive molecules. The chemical characterization showed that the pulp was rich in moisture, carbohydrate, dietary fibers, and minerals, as well as carotenoids and phenolic compounds. The chromatographic analysis indicated that amentoflavone (16.14 mg/100 g) and gallic acid (13.56 mg/100 g) were the most abundant phenolic compounds. Melon flesh has an interesting volatile profile in which, mostly esters and alcohols are considered as the key odorants of this appreciated fruit. Melon juice was filtered through crossflow microfiltration that provides more translucent juice and accentuation of yellow color. During clarification process, the permeate flux was reduced by 50% in approximately 40 min. Results proved that the richness of melons in nutrients and bioactive phytochemicals makes them useful as a potential source of antioxidants and suitable as nutraceutical supplements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to investigate the techno‐functional and thermodynamic properties of Cucumis melo peels. Besides, the protein composition of these raw materials was determined showing interesting profile and thus melon peels could be considered as a natural source of essential amino acids for foods formulation. The foam capacity of peel powder was 38.66%. The sorption isotherms were examined at three temperatures 30, 40, and 60°C using the standard static‐gravimetric method. Results illustrated that the water sorption was temperature dependent as typical of food systems. We pursued the research to elucidate sorption isotherms process, which is useful to assess suitable drying and storage conditions of peels. Peleg model was found the best to fit experimental curves for both desorption/adsorption process. The net isosteric heat of sorption and sorption entropy increased with decrease in equilibrium moisture content. Microscopic features throughout peel tissue presented different samples which undergo desorption or adsorption processes. Practical applications: In recent years, a growing interest on the valorization of food processing by‐products has appeared. However, these materials are often prone to microbial spoilage and chemical deterioration, which are directly related to storage conditions as temperature and moisture content of the product. Sorption isotherms are recognized as valuable tools for technologists to predict shelf‐life stability of the products. The principal purpose of the present work was to investigate the techno‐functional properties and thermodynamic features of melon peels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) was widely used as a treatment to intensify the extraction of bioactive compounds from plants. The aim of this work is to investigate the effect of DIC treatment on the biochemical composition and functional properties of Chemlali olive leaves. DIC conditions were pressure P = 0.1 MPa, number of cycles C = 1 and time t = 11 s. The concentrations of protein, fat, ash, total carbohydrates and fibers in untreated olive leaves powder are 8.62; 3.73; 8.46; 76.49; 64.29 mg/g db, respectively. DIC treatment had significant effects on the chemical composition. Indeed, it increased the amounts of fat (8.33 mg/g db), ash (10.37 mg/g db) and decreased those of protein (6.81 mg/g db), carbohydrates (69 mg/g db) and fibers (53.57 mg/g db). While it had no significant effect on functional properties and pigments. Ten fatty acids were identified and evaluated, with the most abundant being linolenic acid (C18:3) for both olive leaves samples. Mineral analysis proved potassium and calcium as the major elements in both powders. This study showed that DIC treatment is an effective method to increase olive leaves active compounds such as fatty acids and minerals that may be useful in industrial applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this work, a multi objective optimization of batch fluidized drying of two pharmaceutical powders (Group A particles and Group B particles) has been performed using desirability function. Optimization was studied based on non-linear models that take into account particle entrainment and combine dense bed and freeboard sections. Optimization criterion was simultaneously minimizing drying time, dense bed specific energy consumption, and freeboard specific energy consumption. The desired solid final moisture content was considered as a constraint. The control variables were air temperature and air velocity. For the Group B particles, simulation results indicated that desirability increase was monotonic with air temperature increase and air velocity decrease. For the Group A particles, it was shown, the existence of a desirability optimum. By comparing static and dynamic control to the real batch operation, the highest percent reduction of drying time, dense bed specific energy consumption, and freeboard specific energy consumption was obtained for static control with a high value of fixed inlet air temperature. Nevertheless, the risk of product overheating and damaging could be reduced by temperature reduction during the drying process as showed by optimal control trajectories obtained in the case of dynamic control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]