Apple juice concentrate impregnation enhances nutritional and textural attributes of the instant controlled pressure drop (DIC)‐dried carrot chips

Abstract BACKGROUND Osmotic pretreatment is an effective processing unit for improving the textural quality of dried fruit and vegetable snacks, whereas nutrition loss and high calorie after impregnation is still a noteworthy shortcoming of sugar‐immersed products. Therefore, the use of apple juice concentrate as a clean label solution to improve the qualities of instant controlled pressure drop (DIC)‐dried carrot chips was investigated. RESULTS Apple juice concentrate impregnation substantially enhanced the physical properties of the carrot chips, including hardness (38.28 N), crispness (2.01 mm), porosity (66.72%) and homogeneous microstructure, comparable to chips obtained using sucrose and maltiltol based osmotic solutions. Additionally, compared to the sucrose and maltiltol impregnated chips, a higher retention of carotenoids (302.81 μg g –1 , dry basis), a higher multiplicity of phenolic compounds, stronger antioxidant activities and a superior sensory score were observed in the chips pretreated with apple juice concentrate. CONCLUSION Apple juice concentrate could be used as a clean label osmotic solution to enhance the organoleptic attributes and fortify the nutritional properties of DIC‐dried carrot snacks. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry