Sapodilla (Achras zapota L.) is a fruit with a great nutritional potential; however, its perishable nature is a great obstacle for commercialization/exportation. Herein, osmotic dehydration was applied to sapodilla to reduce post-harvest losses and obtain a stable product with acceptable sensorial characteristics. Initially, a 2³ full-factorial design was performed to determine the effect of temperature (30−50 °C), sucrose concentration (40−60% °Brix) and immersion time (90−240 min) on the moisture loss (ML), solid gain (SG) and dehydration efficiency index (DEI). The samples with higher DEI values were subjected to sensory analysis, followed by physicochemical, microbiological and structural analyses. The temperature and the concentration of the osmotic solution had significant influence (p < 0.05) on ML and SG, whereas DEI was significantly influenced (p < 0.05) by the concentration of osmotic solution and the immersion time. The sample produced by osmotic dehydration using the optimized conditions (40 °C, 50 °Brix; 165 min) obtained higher scores on the sensorial attributes, greater compliance with microbiological standards and generated turgor reduction and ruptures of sapodilla cell walls.
Keywords: loss of water; microscopy; preservation of food; sapoti; sensory analysis.