Peras de S. Bartolomeu secadas tradicionalmente e em estufa solar. Comparação das suas propriedades

Mestrado em Engenharia Alimentar - Instituto Superior de AgronomiaThe main objectives were to know the influence of ripeness, of pears of the variety of S. Bartholomew, on the physicochemical characteristics of the "Pêra Passa de Viseu", and to evaluate the possibility of replacing the traditional drying (in direct open-air sun exposure), by greenhouse drying. Six orchards of pears were selected. In each orchard four samples of pears were collected along maturation process. The third sample corresponds to the date of harvest of the pears, for the traditional drying and the greenhouse dryer. Fresh pears and dried pears were analyzed to determine the physical and chemical characteristics. The duration and the daily rate of the drying were also determined. The results showed that the state of maturation influenced the characteristics of the dried pears. Thus, the pears with the higher rates of maturation led to darker, reddish and sweeter dried pears with higher levels of total sugars than pears with less ripened and no differences in the texture were found. Drying in greenhouse, allowed us to obtain a dried pear with physicochemical characteristics similar to the pear produced by the traditional method, in a shorter period of time and with a higher daily rate drying, yelled therefore, it is a possibility to consider for the replacement of traditional drying