Publication: Nutritive and physical quality analysis of black pepper dried with optimized-hybrid solar drying systems
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Date
2025-01
Authors
Ying, Gan Zhi
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Abstract
Black pepper holds significant commercial importance in Malaysia. Consumer preference is driven by its nutritional and physical properties. While open sun drying (OSD) is widely used in tropical countries by virtue of its cost effectiveness, it presents several limitations, including labour intensive, time consuming, weather dependency and contamination risks. Hybrid Solar Drying System (HSDS) have emerged as an alternative to address these limitations. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the efficiency of HSDS compared to OSD and assess the nutritional composition and physical quality of HSDS-dried black pepper relative to commercial black pepper. The efficiency of HSDS drying the black pepper was evaluated by plotting a moisture removal graph to analyse the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) in the curve. Nutritional composition (moisture, ash, protein, oil, crude fiber and carbohydrate (CHO)) of HSDS-dried and commercial samples were determined using standard methods. Physical properties including colour, density, geometric mean diameter, and sphericity, were also analyzed. Drying kinetics demonstrated that HSDS was more efficient than OSD in removing moisture from black pepper. Proximate analysis revealed significantly higher oil content (6.23%) and lower ash content (3.08%) in HSDS-dried pepper compared to commercial pepper (4.71% and 3.70% respectively, p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed in moisture, protein, crude fiber, carbohydrate, density, geometric mean diameter, sphericity and a* value between HSDS-dried and commercial black pepper. Significant differences were observed in L* and b* values, indicating that HSDS-dried pepper exhibited a darker colour and a bluish hue compared to commercial black pepper which increase the market value. dE*ab value of 4.50 represented significant colour difference between HSDS-dried black pepper and commercial black pepper. In conclusion, these outcomes highlight the effectiveness of Black pepper holds significant commercial importance in Malaysia. Consumer preference is driven by its nutritional and physical properties. While open sun drying (OSD) is widely used in tropical countries by virtue of its cost effectiveness, it presents several limitations, including labour intensive, time consuming, weather dependency and contamination risks. Hybrid Solar Drying System (HSDS) have emerged as an alternative to address these limitations. Hence, this study aims to evaluate the efficiency of HSDS compared to OSD and assess the nutritional composition and physical quality of HSDS-dried black pepper relative to commercial black pepper. The efficiency of HSDS drying the black pepper was evaluated by plotting a moisture removal graph to analyse the equilibrium moisture content (EMC) in the curve. Nutritional composition (moisture, ash, protein, oil, crude fiber and carbohydrate (CHO)) of HSDS-dried and commercial samples were determined using standard methods. Physical properties including colour, density, geometric mean diameter, and sphericity, were also analyzed. Drying kinetics demonstrated that HSDS was more efficient than OSD in removing moisture from black pepper. Proximate analysis revealed significantly higher oil content (6.23%) and lower ash content (3.08%) in HSDS-dried pepper compared to commercial pepper (4.71% and 3.70% respectively, p < 0.05). No significant differences were observed in moisture, protein, crude fiber, carbohydrate, density, geometric mean diameter, sphericity and a* value between HSDS-dried and commercial black pepper. Significant differences were observed in L* and b* values, indicating that HSDS-dried pepper exhibited a darker colour and a bluish hue compared to commercial black pepper which increase the market value. dE*ab value of 4.50 represented significant colour difference between HSDS-dried black pepper and commercial black pepper. In conclusion, these outcomes highlight the effectiveness of HSDS in maintaining quality through controlled drying conditions, minimizing colour degradation and ensuring better preservation of key characteristics.