Plasticization dried pears

Water-Sorption Isotherms and Water-Plasticization Effect in Dried Pear... 

For adsorption isotherms, pear cubes (10 mm X 10 mm) were frozen at — 40°C and freeze-dried (Telstar Lioalfa-6 lyophyliser) at 10 Pa. Afterwards, samples were placed in chambers with controlled relative humidity (RH) up to equilibrium was reached. Desorption isotherms were obtained in pear slices with skin (with approximately 8 cm diameter and 10 mm thickness), partially dehydrated in a conventional dryer at 45°C for different times to ensure different final water contents in the samples. After the drying treatment, samples were kept in plastic bags under refrigeration to ensure the internal moisture equilibration and then their water activity was measured. Experiments were carried out in triplicate for each sample. 

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