Chemical Properties of Foam Mat-Dried Tomato Powder as Affected by Process Variables

This research aimed at studying the optimization of process variables for the production of quality foam mat-dried tomato. The method of drying used for this study is foam mat drying and oven drying which serves as the control. For this study, Box-Behnken experimental design of response surface methodology (RSM) was used for designing the experiments. The independent variables selected for the foam mat drying were acacia gum (1 - 3 %) as foam stabilizer, temperature (60 -80 o C) and weight of tomato pulp (170, 190 and 210 g/m 2 ). While for the controls were just dried at different temperature ranges of 60, 70 and 80 o C. The fresh ripe tomato was washed, desked, cut into smaller pieces, pulped before adding the foaming agent and stabilizer then whipped for 7 min and dried in a rectangular tray at 60, 70, 80 o C, scarped, milled and packaged in air tight container. Lycopene, total sugar, ascorbic acid, beta-carotene, and total soluble solids ranged from 2.87 – 11.80 mg/100g, 0.0002 – 0.0012 mml/L, 121.01 – 127.50 mgL-1, 1.40 – 2.47 mg, 4.60 – 7.27 o Brix respectively and their controls ranged from 6.79 – 9.26 mg/100g, 0.0001 – 0.0008 mml/L, 60.13- 70.81 mgL-1, 0.56 – 0.83 mg and 0.80 – 1.60 o Brix respectively. Keywords: Foam Mat Dried Tomato Powder; Process Variables; Chemical Properties; Lycopene; Correlation; Optimization; Face Centered Composite Design. DOI: 10.7176/FSQM/121-06 Publication date: April 30 th 2023