Drying Route Influences Matrix Organization, Reconstitution, Flowability and Selected Phytochemical Indicators of Apricot Powder

Apricot powder functionality after drying, grinding and sieving remains insufficiently understood. This study prepared powders from diluted Diaoganxing apricot pulp using hot-air drying (HAD), infrared drying (IRD), vacuum-pulsed drying (VPD) and vacuum freeze drying (VFD), followed by identical grinding and 60-mesh sieving. Moisture status, density, calculated porosity, particle characteristics, reconstitution, flowability, color, selected phytochemical indicators, ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and supplementary electronic-nose fingerprints were evaluated. The drying route markedly affected powder properties: moisture content and water activity ranged from 7.23 ± 0.38% to 9.85 ± 0.02% and 0.218 ± 0.002 to 0.370 ± 0.007, respectively. VFD gave the highest calculated porosity (59.09 ± 0.84%), shortest wettability time (46.05 ± 1.71 s), highest water-holding capacity (3.63 ± 0.07 g/g), smallest color difference (ΔE = 1.12 ± 0.47), and highest TPC, TCC, AAC and FRAP values. VPD showed the best handling indices, with the lowest angle of repose (28.44 ± 0.34°), Hausner ratio (1.07 ± 0.01) and Carr index (6.33 ± 0.66%). Correlation/PCA indicated treatment-level co-variation, not causality. Under the tested processing conditions, VFD may be preferable for rapid reconstitution and the measured quality indicators, whereas VPD may be more suitable for powder handling.