Vacuum pressure combined with osmosonication as an innovative pre-drying technique for Ghanaian ginger: Evidence from the metabolome and quality characteristics of the dried product

Raphael N Alolga; Richard Osae; Maurice T Apaliya; Traore S Ibrahim; Mohammed S A Ahmed; Emmanuel Kwaw; Eric A Antiri

doi:10.1016/j.ultsonch.2021.105841

Vacuum pressure combined with osmosonication as an innovative pre-drying technique for Ghanaian ginger: Evidence from the metabolome and quality characteristics of the dried product

Ultrason Sonochem. 2021 Dec:80:105841. doi: 10.1016/j.ultsonch.2021.105841. Epub 2021 Nov 22.

Authors

Raphael N Alolga¹, Richard Osae², Maurice T Apaliya², Traore S Ibrahim³, Mohammed S A Ahmed³, Emmanuel Kwaw², Eric A Antiri⁴

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmacognosy, China, Pharmaceutical University, No. 639 Longmian Road, Nanjing 211198, China. Electronic address: alolgara@cpu.edu.cn.
² Cape Coast Technical University, School of Applied Science and Technology, Department of Food Science and Postharvest Technology, Cape Coast, Ghana.
³ State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, Department of Pharmacognosy, China, Pharmaceutical University, No. 639 Longmian Road, Nanjing 211198, China.
⁴ Agogo Presbyterian Women's College of Education, Department of Applied Science, Agogo- Ashanti Region, Ghana.

Abstract

We assessed the impact of selected pretreatment techniques, thus, vacuum-assisted osmotic dehydration (VOD), vacuum-assisted sonication (VSON) and vacuum-assisted osmosonication (VOS) on the metabolomes and quality characteristics of infrared-dried ginger slices. We found marked metabolome differences between the pretreated ginger samples, evidenced by differential amounts of 6-gingerol and 6-shogaol, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and antioxidant activities. We also found distinct differences in the drying kinetics and sensory characteristics of the pretreated samples. Generally, VOS pretreatment gave the best outcomes. The VOS-pretreated samples contained the highest contents of the marker compounds, TPC, TFC and gave the best antioxidant activity. The VOS-pretreated samples also recorded the shortest drying time and exhibited the best sensory attributes. Overall, the general order observed was, VOS > VSON > VOD > control for all quality parameters examined. VOS pretreatment of ginger before drying therefore holds a great potential for large-scale industrial application.

Keywords: Metabolome; Quality characteristics; Vacuum-assisted osmosonication; Vacuum-assisted osmotic dehydration; Vacuum-assisted sonication.