EFFECTS OF HOTAIR DRYING CONDITIONS ON THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL

EFFECTS OF HOT‐AIR DRYING CONDITIONS ON THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF KAFFIR LIME LEAVES (Citrus Hystrix) 1 Juhari , Nurul Hanisah Lasekan Olusegun Sharifah Kharidah Syed Muhammad 3, Muhammad Shahrim Ab Karim 1 1 Department 2 Olaniyi , of Food Service and Management, 2*Department of Food Technology, 3 Department of Food Science, Faculty of Food Science and Technology, Universiti Putra Malaysia, 43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia. *Corresponding author: lasekan@food. upm. edu. my AIMS • To examine the effect of hot-air drying conditions on the physicochemical characteristics of Kaffir lime leaves (Citrus hystrix) • To find the optimum conditions for drying and production of high quality dried material that could be used for a high food grade spicing material. METHODS programmable oven using perforated tray after separated from dryer stalks and cleaned Different drying conditions: i) Loading capacity (0. 5 -2. 0 kg/m 2) ii) Drying temperatures (40 -80°C) iii) Drying times (3 -15 hrs) fresh Kaffir lime leaves Prepared for optimization procedure based on Central Composite Design (CCD), Response Surface Methodology (RSM) dried Kaffir lime leaves Type of analysis: ·Moisture content · Water activity ·Texture (brittleness) · Colour (L a b) RESULTS CONCLUSION The overall optimum conditions that resulted in desirable dried Kaffir lime leaves, was achieved when the drying time was 4. 9 h, the drying temperature, 60 °C and loading capacity, 1. 4 kg/m².