EFFECT OF DRYING KINETICS ON COLOR OF “DEDO DE MOÇA” CHILI PEPPERS (Capsicum baccatum)

ABSTRACT This study aimed to assess the drying kinetics of red and yellow chili peppers, “dedo-de-moça” variety, at different temperatures (35, 45, 55, and 70 °C) and model this phenomenon mathematically. We also evaluated the effect of these drying air temperatures on pepper fruit color. Pepper fruits were dried in a forced-air circulation dryer. Ten mathematical models were fitted to the experimental data by nonlinear regression analysis. After drying, pepper samples were analyzed for the following colorimetric parameters: lightness (L*), chroma or saturation (c), and hue angle (h), in order to determine the influence of drying air temperature on fruit coloration. Our findings showed that the higher the air temperature, the faster the drying process. Midilli model fitted well to all temperature data and best represented the drying kinetics of “dedo-de-moça” chili peppers. Moreover, fruit color was affected by the drying air temperatures, in which the higher the drying air temperature, the greater the color variation.