Cashew apples, a by-product accrued during the manufacture of cashew nuts, have abundant nutritional values but are not widely utilized due to the presence of substances that cause acrid taste. In this study, we attempted the production of a dried jelly cashew apple product and optimized three main processing stages including blanching, osmotic, and drying. The results showed suitable conditions at 6 mm thickness in the blanching process. The osmotic process recorded a temperature of 35°C, within 1.5 h, the ratio of sugar syrup/ingredient 2:1 with sugar syrup 60 Bx, and the addition of 0.6% citric acid on the total weight of ingredients and 0.02% CaCl2. The drying process at 55°C within 267 min had the highest ascorbic acid content (TAA), total phenolic content (TPC), and content of tannin compounds (TTC) retention. These parameters refer to a product that has good organoleptic acceptability in terms of taste, acrid content, and a high ability to retain major nutrients. Furthermore, the product recovery efficiency is 21.45%. Jelly drying cashew apples (JDC) are formed to help take advantage of by-products, contributing to adding value for the cashew industry.
Keywords: blanching; cashew apples (Anacardium occidentale L.); drying; jelly; osmosis.
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