Degradación del ácido ascórbico durante el secado convectivo de papaya Maradol (Carica papaya)

Papaya (Carica papaya) is a fragile and perishable fruit, during harvest losses are observed by contamination, drying is considered an alternative to reduce these losses, and this is one of the most widely used conservation methods to preserve food, however, may induce chemical and physical changes resulting in the degradation of the quality of the final product, so that the ascorbic acid was employed as a quality indicator for measuring the degree of severity of the processing applied. Experimentals kinetics were performed during drying. The data obtained are represented in a model that describes the evolution of ascorbic acid in terms of a first-order irreversible kinetics. Of the variables evaluated: temperature (50, 60 and 70 C), moisture of the sample (0.1 and 15 g.gss-1) air velocity (1.5 and 2.5 m / s) and slice thickness (1.0 and 1.5 cm) is found that under the conditions tested, the temperature was the variable that most affected the degradation of ascorbic acid, on the other hand, in the case of air velocity, humidity and thickness of the slice its effects were not significant.