Mass Transfer in Strawberry Tissue During Osmotic Treatment II: Structure‐function Relationships

The surface response method demonstrated macroscopic changes in strawberry tissue during osmotic treatment (OT). Changes in the structural elements of strawberry were determined by evaluating bulk phenomena such us water loss, solid gain, and shrinkage. The changes were related to microstructural changes (determined in Part I) that took place in the same range of process conditions. The extension of impregnation, with respect to dewatering, increased as cellular shrinkage and cell destruction increased. The macroscopic effective diffusivity of water ranged from 5.1 ± 1.0 × 10 −10 to 0.7 ± 0.2 × 10 −10 m 2 /s, which was 2 orders of magnitude higher than the microscopic effective diffusivity of water (in the order of magnitude of 10 −12 m 2 /s), calculated from cellular shrinkage.