Food Science

Dehydration of Fruit to Determine Moisture Content

Pear, Gam, Jaja and Tientien 1005

Jan, 14 and 15 2016

Introduction
As we know, our body is composed of large amounts of water. We can get
those water from metabolism, drinking and eating food. Every food that we eat
contains water. Some contains a small amount of water, while some contains a lot
amount of water. There are three different types of water in food. First one is
bulk or free water. Bulk water is the water molecule is surrounded by water
molecules. Water in this type can easily be removed such as squeezing. The
second type is trapped or capillary water. This type of water is hard to remove
because it is trapped by physical barriers. Its held in a small tube The last one is
bounded water. This type of water is the water that contact with the food
constituents, but it can also bond with the water molecule. These bonds are
stronger and harder to remove. If we talk about the food that contains a lot of
water, one type of food that contains a large amount of water is fruit. How do
we know how much water is inside the fruit? We can use one process which is
called dehydration.
Dehydration is one of the easiest ways to preserve food from turning bad.
It is a process of removing the water or moisture from the food by evaporation
which makes fruit becomes drier. By removing water in the food, we also remove
some organism out too because they need water in order to stay alive. This
process makes us prevent spoilage in food. There are many ways to dehydrate
food such as sunlight, oven or dehydrator. Dehydrator is the fastest and the
most efficient way because we can control the temperature.
When we do dehydration. The fruit lose some weight. The thing that it lost
is water. That is called moisture content which is the amount of water per unit
mass of moist. We can calculate by finding the difference of weight between the
mass of food before dehydrate, and the mass of food after dehydrate, then
divides the difference by the weight of water before dehydration. After that
multiply by one hundred to make it become percentage.

In this experiment, the fruit that our group choose and prepare is pineapple.
Another groups choose orange, strawberry, apple and banana. Our purpose is to
learn how dehydration works and we want to see how different of moisture
content in each type of fruit.
LAB REPORT : DEHYDRATION OF FRUIT

Materials

Pineapple
Knife
Wax paper
Electronic
balance

Ruler
Pen
Dehydrator

LAB REPORT : DEHYDRATION OF FRUIT

Procedure
Part 1
1. Obtain the pineapple.
2. Each member cut the pineapple in the equal size. One piece
per each person.
3. Observe the pineapple, draw a picture of it and measure
the size of it including the thickness
4. Cut a wax paper to fit the slide and mass it by using the
electronic balance. Then re-zero and mass pineapple. After
that mass the pineapple with the wax paper.
5. Record the mass in the data table.
6. Place the pineapple on a rack of the dehydrator. Make
sure that it is spaced evenly apart. Then leave for 24 hours.

Part 2
1. Next day, obtain pineapple from the dehydrator.
2. Each member mass their own pineapple in grams. Do the
same as part 1 which are massing wax paper first, re-zero,
massing the pineapple and mass both of them together.
3. Record the mass in the data table.
4. Draw a picture of the dehydrated sample, and measure
the size of it. Describe its characteristics compared to the

original
sample.

LAB REPORT : DEHYDRATION OF FRUIT

Data table

Average = 84.79%

TienTiens pineapple

pineapple
- silky

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Jajas pineapple

pineapple

Pears pineapple

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Gams pineapple

These are our pineapples after dehydration

LAB REPORT : DEHYDRATION OF FRUIT

Discussion

1. Why did the weight of the sample decrease? Explain.

Dehydration is a process that removes water or moisture from food by
evaporation. The weight of a pineapple decrease because water in pineapple is highly
evaporated when the temperature in dehydrator reach at the boiling point of water,
water will evaporate into a gas. When the water come out, pineapple will become drier
and

it also lost the weight because of losing water.

2. Each group member should comment on the changes they observed

from the wet to dry sample.
We observe pineapple before dehydrate and after dehydrate pineapple such as
size,colour and smell
Gam: Before we dehydrated the fruit sample that we chose, pineapple was really
juicy and watery. Its smells sour. Its colours pale yellow. Its tastes sweet like a
general pineapple and its thick and soft.
After dehydrating, pineapple became thinner, drier and stickier. Its smell like a
chip. Its tastes sweeter, sourer and also saltier than the original one. When we ate it,
its very hard to chew. Its sizes smaller than the one that not dehydrate. And also its
mass decreased because it lost a lot of water. But I think that its not completely
dehydrated because it still wet and it might need more time to dehydrate it.
Tientien: Before we dehydrate pineapple. Its very watery and has a smell thats
very good like normal pineapple. It has the colour that bright and the taste is very
sweet. Its very soft. The size of its is thick. But after we dehydrate pineapple by
dehydrator remove all of water in pineapple out. It becomes more yellow, drier and
sticky. It has the smell that likes chips. The taste is a little bit salty but when we chew
longer its more sour. And the size of its is smaller than before dehydrated. The
colour of its is more yellow. But we observe that it still a little bit wet and think it
need more time to dehydrate to make it drier.
Jaja: Before we did an the dehydration step, the pineapples watery and soft.
It had a bright yellow color and had a bit smell. When we cut it, water moved out
from the pineapple all time because its very moist. It had a soft structure like a jelly
in sheet form. After the dehydration step, it changed to harder and dry but not
completely just have a bit damp. The shape of it changed to twisted shape and smaller
because it shrink. The pineapple still had a smell but more than before, we thought that
its smell like a chips and a bit sour. It become more sticky and more yellow. After we

taste of it is very sour and sweet with a bit salty.

ate,

LAB REPORT : DEHYDRATION OF FRUIT

Pear: Before the fruit dehydrated, pineapple was moist.The color is pale yellow
and smelled a bit of sour. The texture of it is both soft and hard. It is soft that we
can press it, but it is hard enough to make it not lose its proper shape when we
press. After the fruit dehydrated, pineapple becomes sticky. It feels like it is drier and
harder, but it is still a bit wet. The color of it becomes more yellowish and the smell of
its is like potato chips and stronger than before dehydrating. The taste of it is a bit
salty

and very sour. It is very sticky that we it is hard to bite and chew. The size
and the mass of it is also a lot smaller.

3. Do you think your sample needed more time to dry? Why or why
not?
Our sample which is pineapple is almost dry, but we think that it is needed more
time to dry because after we dehydrated pineapples and observe them, we think that
they
are still a little bit wet, so if we have more time, it might become drier.

4. How did the average moisture content of the other fruit samples
compare to your group?
Pineapple have average moisture content at 84.79%. Apples have 82.77%.
Strawberries have 88.56%. Oranges have 82.25%. The last one which is banana have
72.74%.
From the experiment, we knew that strawberry is the fruit that contain the most
moisture content (88.56%) and banana is the fruit which contain the least moisture
content (72.74%) in this class. Therefore, our sample which is pineapple contain a lot
of
water at the second in the class.

5. Why did some samples dehydrate more efficiently than others? (For
within your group and also between different groups)
There are many things that affect how fruits dehydrate. First is the size. Even
though entire pineapple has the same moisture content, but the cutting pieces of our
group member can be different due to the size of them. Tientiens fruit sample was
the most efficient in size compared to other groups member because she had the
smallest size and mass. The second thing is the place where we put in the dehydrator.
In this experiment, Gam had the most efficient in this case. Even though she had
almost largest size samples, but after dehydration process Gam samples almost had the
same moisture content as Tientien. Gam place her samples near the center of
dehydrator, so the place where we put in the sample is important to influence the
result. The last but not least is the type of fruit. Different fruit has different moisture
contents. If you look into average of moisture of each group that has different fruit,
you
can see that strawberry is the fruit which contain the most moisture content which
is about 88.56% and banana is the fruit which contain the least moisture content
72.74% in this class. Therefore the types of fruit affect the efficiency of fruit
dehydration.
LAB REPORT : DEHYDRATION OF FRUIT

6. Research advantages and disadvantages to dehydrated food

products and explain.
Advantages of dehydrated food are changing the taste or improve the fruits
taste. When water moves out, food is more sugary treats, but it depends on
personal sensory too. Some dried food can also add flavor to improve boring foods.
They are lightweight so they can be moved very easily. The foods that already
dehydrate can weigh as 10% of fresh food before the dehydration process. Another
advantage is that they can be kept longer than fresh food so its very easy to
save them if you bought them too much. On the other hand, dried food does not
have taste same as fresh food, someone might prefer fresh foods than dried foods.
They might have some mold on food. Dried foods are high in fiber, but too much for
you.
They might cause you to have gas, bloating, possibly diarrhea, abdominal
cramping or constipation. They are too dry so they often do not soften.

Conclusion

From the experiment, we have learnt that dehydration makes the fruit
change in texture, colour, flavor and weight. Dehydration has both advantages
and disadvantages, so we have to consider which way is most appropriate for our
products. The result of the moisture content in our fruit is 84.79%. It shows us
that the fruit has a lot amount of water. And the different kinds of fruit have the
different
moisture content depends on the amount of water in each kind of fruit.

Bibliography

Anne, M. (n.d.). The Disadvantages of Dried Fruit. Retrieved from sfgate:

http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/disadvantages-dried-fruit-3227.html
Brown, D. (2015, February 10). The Advantages and Disadvantages Part II.
Retrieved from Hubpages:
http://hubpages.com/food/homepreservationadvantagesanddisadvantagespt2

Food Dehydration. (n.d.). Retrieved from Monroeps public schools:

https://sites.google.com/a/monroeps.net/dehydrationsag/

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Work log

Pear - Introduction, Q#2,5 and conclusion

Gam - Introduction, Q#2,4 and conclusion
JaJa - Material, procedure, Q #2,6 and conclusion
Tientien - Data table, discussion Q. #1-3 and conclusion

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