Dehydrofreezing

Núñez Yomira, Ortega María, Ortiz Melanie, Paredes Cindy

Facultad de Ingeniería Mecánica y Ciencias de la Producción
Escuela Superior Politécnica del Litoral
Guayaquil, Ecuador

Abstract revisión literaria de las más recientes

aplicaciones sobre deshidrocongelación.
Dehydrofreezing is a complementary process
to freezing because food is dehydrated to the Palabras clave: Deshidrocongelación,
desired moisture content prior to frozen deshidratación, Almacenamiento congelado.
storage. This process avoids the formation of
large ice crystals, avoiding damage to the
cellular structure of the food and, in turn, the 1. Latest research
freezing time is reduced by the low water Dehydrofreezing is a process for preservation
content. It is especially applied to fruits and of food by evaporation of 50-60% of the water
vegetables due to their high perishability and before freezing, the main products vinculated
because their cellular structure is less elastic. to this process are fruits and vegetables
This procedure was developed in 1940, because this products there are prone to more
however it is commercially applied only to damage during freezing. The organoleptics
products such as potatoes, carrots and onions, characteristics are better preserved that in
for this reason, the objective is to make a other process as freezing and the posterior
literary review of the most recent applications rehydration is more quickly (Oxford, 2020).
on dehydrofreezing. This method is an adjunct to freezing but later
that a deshidratation the food to a desirable
Keywords: Dehydrofreezing, dehydrated, moisture content (James et al.,2014).
frozen storage.
(James et al.,2014) in their article A critical
Resumen Review of Dehydrofreezing of Fruits and
vegetables, found that in the last years there
La deshidrocongelación es un proceso has been increased the interest of this kind of
complementario de la congelación debido a preservation process. In that review their
que el alimento se deshidrata hasta el autors compared different pre-treatments as
contenido de humedad deseado previo al osmotic deshydration using a hypertonic
almacenamiento en congelación. Este proceso solution as syrup, sucrose or fructose and salts,
evita la formación de grandes cristales de hielo but they affirm that is important evaluate the
evitando el daño la estructura celular del freezing rate because it will be a problem for
alimento y a su vez, el tiempo de congelación the pretreatments and sensory quality. (Ando
se ve reducido por el bajo contenido de agua. et al.,2011). Consider that the method of
Se aplica especialmente a frutas y verduras por freezing proposed in that last paper (Osmotic
su elevada perecebilidad y porque su dehidrofreezing) had no effect on the cell
estructura celular es menos elástica. Este membrane induced by freeze-thawing, so their
procedimiento fue desarrollado en el año 1940, focus this research on the undestanding of:
sin embargo, se aplica comercialmente solo a mechanical texture parameters, fracture stress,
productos como papas, zanahorias y cebollas, because there are related to the cell wall and
por esta razón, el objetivo es hacer una initial modulus related to the cell membrane.
 necessary for pineapple samples freezing. The
Treating fruits with steam and partial freezing–thawing process affects the values of
dehydration or only partial drying before pineapple samples mechanical properties. The
frozen storage (dehydro-freezing) is a ascorbic acid content was found to be
successful treatment, it improved the quality of diminished in fresh fruit after the freezing–
fruits or vegetables during freezing storage and thawing process. While ascorbic acid losses
thawing. Dehydro-frozen fruits as well as were greater during the osmotic dehydration
dehydrated fruits, preserve their nutritional than with air dehydration. (Ramallo &
components, it had the better texture values Mascheroni, 2010)
and total phenols, and their organoleptic There are few public data on if the quality of
characteristics with good scores of taste and dehydrofrozen fruits or vegetables is affected
peel adhesion. This indicated the possibility of by freezing rate or freezing method. Some
using dehydro-freezing process in improving studies compared different freezing rates
the quality of frozen fruits (El-Sayed et al., appear to show that freezing rate is important.
2017) Moyano et al. (2002) reported that freezing
rate had the most significant effect of all
2. Application (Technology) parameters on sensory quality like: flavour,
texture, and water activity of papaya.
It is known that dehydrofreezing is an adjunct From a slow to a fast-freezing rate, the quality
to freezing in which a food is first dehydrated of the product was improve by 16.5%. But the
to a desirable moisture content and then it is original work on the dehydrofreezing process
frozen. This method is applied to vegetables did not indicate that freezing rates of
and fruits because this type of products contain dehydrofrozen products were “substantially
more water and their cellular structure is less slower or faster than those of comparable
elastic. It has been proved that dehydrofrozen conventionally frozen fruits or vegetables”
fruits and vegetables have a better quality than (Tressler and Evers,1957).
frozen products (James et al.,2014).
The first step of dehydration includes a wide Limitations
range of physical drying methods, but the most
common are by air drying and osmotic When talking about limitations on
dehydration. In some studies, mention that the dehydrofreezing process is hard to tell.
amount dehydration required depends on the Dehydrofreezing is a relatively new food
product, in the dehydration pretreatment and in preservation method, but it seems to be a
the freezing method, and it must be removed at revolutionary method when comparing with
least 30 to 50% of water. the rest. In fact, comparing the effects of
In a study it was evaluated the effect of dehydrofreezing with conventional freezing, is
osmotic dehydration and hot air-drying, clear from the published studies that
applied before the freezing process, on the end dehydrofreezing of food potentially offers
quality of pineapple slices. Quality loss was numerous advantages over other freezing
measured through drip loss, ascorbic acid methods, both in terms of product quality and
content and mechanical properties changes of processing efficiencies. The chief advantage of
tissue. The freezing was in a conventional air- dehydrofreezing was claimed to be the cost
blast tunnel at -31.5 ± 2 °C. Mechanical savings. Since then, more emphasis has been
properties of fresh and dehydrated fruit, with placed on quality advantages of
and without the later process of freezing, were dehydrofreezing versus conventional freezing.
evaluated through compression tests. Osmotic
dehydration and hot air-drying have the Additionally, when studying the effect of
beneficial effect of reducing the time dehydrofreezing on freezing time, there is
evidence that dehydrofreezing times are Ando, H., Kajiwara, K., Oshita, S., & Suzuki,
shorter than conventional freezing times for T. (2012). The effect of osmotic
the same product, since there is less water to dehydrofreezing on the role of the cell
freeze (Pham 2008; Shizuka et al. 2008; Wu et membrane in carrot texture softening after
al. 2009; Ramallo and Mascheroni 2010). freeze-thawing. Journal of Food Engineering,
Reduced freezing times of 20 to 30%, and 108(3), 473–479.
even 50 %, have been reported in comparison
with freezing times of untreated products. As Crivelli, G., Torregiani, D., Bertolo, G., Forni,
well as, the effects of this process on energy E., & Maestrelli, A. (1987b). Research on
savings, because reducing the water load of the dehydrofreezing of fruit. Part 1: utilization for
food through dehydrating pretreatments will the preparation of fruit salad. Annales Istituto
reduce the heat load and thus the amount of Sperimentale Valorizzazione Tecnologica dei
energy required to freeze it (Huxsoll 1982). Prodotti Agricoli, 18, 63–67.
Crivelli et al. (1987b) estimated energy
savings of 27% for dehydrofreezing as El-Sayed, Ahmed A. Al-Hassan, Mohamed
compared with conventional freezing. Gadallah & Mohamed M. Abd El-Razik.
(2017). Applying dehydro-freezing method to
Furthermore, the effects of dehydrofreezing on extend shelf-life of Barhi date fruits growing
thermos-physical properties of food had also at Qassim Region, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
been studied. Some of these are shown in Journal of Food, Agriculture & Environment
Tocci and Mascheroni’s (2008) comparison of Vol.15 (2): 27-33.
the thermal properties of fresh and osmotically
dehydrated Kiwifruit. The water reduction Huxsoll, C. C. (1982). Reducing the
reduces the enthalpy and heat capacity, and, refrigeration load by partial concentration of
combined with absorption of sugars and salts foods prior to freezing. Food Technology,
in the case of osmotic dehydration pre- 36(5), 98–102
treatments, leads to a lowering of the freezing
point temperature. James, C., Purnell, G., & James, S. J.
(2014). A Critical Review of Dehydrofreezing
Conclusion of Fruits and Vegetables. Food and
Dehydro-freezing in an integrated process that Bioprocess Technology, 7(5), 1219–
improves the quality of frozen food during 1234. doi:10.1007/s11947-014-1293-y 
storage, however, there is not as much
information regarding key parameters of Moyano, P. C., Vega, R. E., Bunger, A.,
dehydration and freezing or the interaction of Garretón, J., & Osorio, F. A. (2002). Effect of
both to enhance the process. combined processes of osmotic dehydration
In the literary review it was determined that it and freezing on papaya preservation. Food
is important to choose the procedure applied Science and Technology International, 8, 295–
according to the type of food, since there is an 301.
impact not only organoleptic but also in
nutritional losses of the fruit, ascorbic acid Oxford. (2020). Overwiew: dehydrofreezing.
content decreased in fresh fruit after the URL:
freezing process- defrosting. While the https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.109
ascorbic acid losses were greater during 3/oi/authority.20110803095707655.
osmotic dehydration than with air dehydration.
Pham, Q. (2008). Advances in food
Bibliography freezing/thawing/freeze concentration
modelling and techniques. Japan Journal of
Food Engineering, 9(1), 21–32.
Ramallo, L., & Mascheroni, R. (2010). Dehydrofreezing of pineapple. Journal of Food Engineering,
99, 269-275.

Tocci, A. M., & Mascheroni, R. H. (2008). Tressler, D. K., & Evers, C. F. (1957). The
Some thermal properties of fresh and freezing preservation of foods: volume 1—
osmotically dehydrated kiwifruit above and freezing of fresh foods.
below the initial freezing temperature. Journal
of Food Engineering, 88, 20– 27