Osmotic dehydration of guava: influence of replacing sodium metabisulphite with honey on quality

Guava slices were subjected to pre-treatment by soaking in a solution containing 0.25% (w/v) sodium metabisulphite, 0.5% (w/v) ascorbic acid, 1% (w/v) citric acid, 1% (w/v) calcium chloride and either 0%, 1% or 3% (v/v) honey. A higher concentration of metabisulphite 0.5% (w/v)], but no honey, was also prepared as a reference. After osmotic dehydration, the guava slices were dried at 60 °C. During 24 weeks of storage, the measured texture values of products indicated that an addition of honey significantly delayed the increase in hardness and cutting work in guava slices compared to other treatments ( P  ≤   0.05). Pre-treatment with 0.5% (w/v) metabisulphite without honey or 0.25% (w/v) metabisulphite with 1% (v/v) honey maintained colour during storage better than with 0 or 3% (v/v) honey. The result showed good agreement with colour score evaluation. Overall results suggested that 1% (v/v) honey was the best pre-treatment condition.