Abstract

The agricultural processing industry is continually working to meet consumer demand for new products, diversifying the supply of non-perishable items ready for consumption, conveniently prepared to maintain the main characteristics of the raw material. The objective of this work was to dehydrate whole okra by lyophilization and convective drying at 50, 60, 70 and 80 °C and to evaluate the influence of drying processes on the chemical and physical quality of powdered products. The powders had acceptable contents of lipids, sugars, proteins, pectin, chlorophyll and carotenoids, high hygroscopicity and low solubility. Lyophilization produced powders with characteristics closer to those of the fresh raw material. Regarding the contents of ashes, pectin, lipids and chlorophyll b, the samples obtained by convective drying showed characteristics close and even superior to those of the lyophilized powder.

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