Novel Valorization of Fully Ripe Mangoes: A Dual Approach to Produce Prebiotic Short‐Chain Fructooligosaccharide–Enriched Products Through Enzymatic Synthesis and Osmotic Dehydration

Short‐chain fructooligosaccharides (sc‐FOS) are prebiotics with significant health benefits and potential as low‐calorie sweeteners. This study employed a dual strategy to valorize unmarketable, fully ripe “Nam Dok Mai” mangoes—commonly responsible for substantial postharvest losses—by converting their inherent sucrose into sc‐FOS and subsequently utilizing the sc‐FOS–enriched mango syrup for osmotic dehydration (OD) of mango pieces. sc‐FOS was successfully synthesized from mango juice using Pectinex Ultra SP‐L. The addition of exogenous sucrose further enhanced sc‐FOS production, resulting in a sucrose conversion of 67.54% (g FOS·100 g initial sucrose −1 ). Mango syrup derived from juice with added sucrose (JUICE SU) contained sc‐FOS of 58.07% (g FOS·100 g total sugar −1 ) and was used as the OD agent. OD at 60°C significantly increased the sc‐FOS uptake of mango pieces compared to dehydration at 40°C. The sc‐FOS–enriched mango syrup proved more effective in facilitating OD than conventional sucrose syrup, leading to greater solid gain and water loss. The OD mango pieces using sc‐FOS–enriched mango syrup as the OD agent contained sc‐FOS of approximately 30% (db). This research demonstrates a promising approach for transforming food waste into value‐added functional food products while mitigating economic losses and environmental impacts associated with unmarketable fully ripe mangoes.