In a 120 min osmotic dehydration procedure followed by an air drying process, the effect of Carboxy-Methyl Cellulose (CMC) on some qualitative characteristics of apple slabs including browning index (BI) and rehydration capacity were studied. Moreover, the relation between textural and sensory properties such as hardness, cohesiveness, springiness, adhesiveness and chewiness was investigated. Samples containing higher coating concentrations (1% - 1.5%) showed higher rehydration capacity and lower browning index compared to those with lower coating concentrations (0.25% - 0.5%). Weibull distribution model was used to investigate the effect of coating concentration on drying kinetics. The results of sensory tests showed that the overall acceptance of samples is increased with decreasing coating concentration and an appropriate correlation was found between sensory properties and textural parameters.

Keywords