Abstract:
Energy efficiency is becoming increasingly important in storing foods preserving their own characteristics and fruits and vegetables by drying in terms of self-life as well. Objectives: Since the Black Sea Region of Turkey is rainy and extremely humid during the harvest period of fruits and vegetables, the region is not suitable for natural drying of fruits and vegetables. For this reason, additional energy is needed for drying in the region. The Prunus domestica L. fruit that grown naturally in the Black Sea Region was dried using LED technology in a short time with minimum energy and preserving food properties, along with traditional methods. Methods: The fruits were dried at fixed lumen (10000 lumen) using the LED's of three different color temperatures (3000 K, 4000 K and 6500 K), along with traditional (sun drying) and conventional (using electrical heater) drying. In addition, the effects of drying conditions on water-soluble dry matter, vitamin C, total phenolic, total flavonoid and total antioxidant (FRAP, DPPH) properties were investigated. Results: Time-dependent drying curves of Prunus domestica L. at five different drying conditions and time-dependent changes of the dryer temperature with LED drying were obtained. Conclusion: The drying time with 3 different LED temperatures was found to be shorter than that of the drying time of sun drying and electric heater. It was concluded that, energy efficiency was better in LED drying than those of conventional methods.