Effect of temperature on the drying characteristics, colour, antioxidant and beta-carotene contents of two apricot varieties

In this study, the drying characteristics, colour, oxygen reactive antioxidant capacity (ORAC) and beta-carotene contents of two apricot varieties dried at different temperatures were compared. The hot air drying of apricot slices for both varieties consisted of a constant rate period (CRP) and two of falling rate periods (FRP). The CRP drying rate and the first and second FRP drying coefficients increased with drying temperature for both apricot varieties. The first and second FRP of both apricot varieties gave activation energies of 23.5–28.7 and 25.6–29.3 kJ mole⁻¹, respectively. The colour values (L*, a* and b*) of both dried apricot varieties decreased with increasing temperature, while the total colour change of both dried apricot varieties increased with temperature. The chroma, hue angle and browning index values of both dried apricot varieties decreased with increasing temperature, and the hydrophilic ORAC and beta-carotene contents increased with drying temperature