Dried peaches retaining vibrant color and nutrients through advanced drying techniques.

Peach Perfect: How to Keep Your Dried Fruit Deliciously Nutritious

Lena Kashyap in Tech & Innovation December 2025 • 4 min read.

"Unlocking the secrets of combined drying for better quality and flavor in dried peaches."

Drying is an age-old method of preserving fruits, but it often comes at the cost of quality. Traditional methods can zap away the vibrant flavors and essential nutrients that make fruits so appealing. Water, a key component influencing food quality, transforms during drying, directly affecting the final product's attributes.

Pectin, a vital structural component in plant cell walls, is particularly susceptible to changes during drying. This can lead to alterations in texture, water-binding capacity, and overall quality. Enzymes like PME and PG play a significant role in pectin degradation. The challenge lies in finding drying methods that minimize these undesirable changes.

Now, innovative combined drying technologies, integrating methods like osmotic dehydration (OD) and instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) - assisted infrared radiation drying (IR-DIC), are emerging as promising solutions. These methods aim to improve the quality of dried fruits by carefully controlling water removal and minimizing damage to sensitive compounds like pectin. This article explores how these techniques affect the water status and water-soluble pectin in peaches, offering insights into creating healthier and more delicious dried fruit.

The Science Behind Better Drying: How Combined Techniques Work

Dried peaches retaining vibrant color and nutrients through advanced drying techniques.

Researchers have been diving deep into how combined drying methods impact the quality of dried peaches. One study meticulously examined peaches undergoing different stages of combined drying, using osmotic dehydration (OD) as a pre-treatment before instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) assisted infrared radiation drying (IR-DIC). This multi-stage approach aims to gently remove water while preserving the fruit's integrity.

Here's a breakdown of the key findings:

Water Status Transformation: The combined drying process significantly reduced free and immobilized water content, essentially eliminating the most mobile water within the fruit. Bound water, however, increased after the IRD treatment, suggesting a shift in how water is held within the peach tissue.
Enzyme Activity: Osmotic dehydration initially boosted PME activity, but the subsequent IRD treatment completely inactivated PG. This precise control over enzyme activity is crucial for maintaining the desired texture and preventing excessive softening.
Pectin Changes: The degree of esterification (DE), WSP content, and average molar mass (Mw) of pectin all decreased significantly after the combined drying. This indicates some pectin degradation, but OD pre-treatment helped slow down this process.
Sugar Composition: The neutral sugar composition of WSP, primarily galactose, arabinose, and rhamnose, was also affected, with contents decreasing after the combined drying. Again, OD appeared to offer some protection against this degradation.

These findings highlight the complex interplay of water status, enzyme activity, and pectin chemistry during combined drying. The OD pre-treatment appears to play a crucial role in mitigating some of the harsh effects of drying, leading to a better-quality final product.

The Future of Drying: Healthier, Tastier Dried Fruits

This research offers valuable insights into optimizing drying processes for fruits and vegetables. By carefully controlling water removal and enzyme activity, combined drying techniques can help preserve the natural goodness of fresh produce, creating healthier and more appealing dried snacks.

For consumers, this means access to dried fruits that retain more of their original flavor, nutrients, and texture. For the food industry, it opens doors to developing innovative drying methods that minimize waste and maximize product quality.

Further research is needed to fully understand the complex chemical reactions that occur during combined drying and to optimize these techniques for different types of fruits and vegetables. However, the potential for creating superior dried products with enhanced nutritional value and sensory appeal is undeniable.

About this Article -

This article was crafted using a human-AI hybrid and collaborative approach. AI assisted our team with initial drafting, research insights, identifying key questions, and image generation. Our human editors guided topic selection, defined the angle, structured the content, ensured factual accuracy and relevance, refined the tone, and conducted thorough editing to deliver helpful, high-quality information.See our About page for more information.

This article is based on research published under:

DOI-LINK: 10.1016/j.ijbiomac.2018.11.033, Alternate LINK

Title: Characterization Of Water Status And Water Soluble Pectin From Peaches Under The Combined Drying Processing

Subject: Molecular Biology

Journal: International Journal of Biological Macromolecules

Publisher: Elsevier BV

Authors: Jian Lyu, Jinfeng Bi, Xuan Liu, Mo Zhou, Qinqin Chen

Published: 2019-02-01

Everything You Need To Know

What does combined drying mean, and why is it better than traditional drying methods for peaches?

Combined drying involves using a sequence of drying methods to optimize the final product. In the context of peaches, osmotic dehydration (OD) is used as a pre-treatment, followed by instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) assisted infrared radiation drying (IR-DIC). This multi-stage approach is designed to carefully control water removal while minimizing damage to the fruit's delicate compounds. This contrasts with traditional drying that often compromises flavor and nutrients. It's worth noting that other combined drying methods might involve different techniques depending on the specific fruit and desired outcome. This approach helps manage water status and enzyme activity more effectively than single-method drying.

How does osmotic dehydration (OD) impact enzyme activity, specifically PME and PG, during the drying of peaches?

Osmotic dehydration (OD) impacts enzyme activity by initially boosting PME activity. However, the subsequent instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) assisted infrared radiation drying (IR-DIC) treatment completely inactivates PG. This control is important because PME and PG are enzymes that play a role in pectin degradation, which can affect the texture of the fruit. The goal is to manage their activity to maintain the desired texture and prevent excessive softening during the drying process. Without controlling these enzymes, the final product could suffer from undesirable textural changes. Further research is needed to determine the optimal enzyme activity levels for different fruits and drying conditions.

What happens to pectin during combined drying, and how does osmotic dehydration (OD) help preserve it?

Pectin's degree of esterification (DE), WSP content, and average molar mass (Mw) all decrease significantly after combined drying with osmotic dehydration (OD) pre-treatment and instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) assisted infrared radiation drying (IR-DIC). This indicates that some pectin degradation occurs during the drying process. However, the OD pre-treatment helps to slow down this degradation, preserving the quality of the fruit's texture and structure. Pectin is crucial for the cell structure so, protecting it is very important.

How does water status change in peaches undergoing combined drying processes?

The water status transformation during combined drying, using osmotic dehydration (OD) followed by instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) assisted infrared radiation drying (IR-DIC), involves a significant reduction in free and immobilized water content within the peaches. Interestingly, bound water increases after the IRD treatment. This shift suggests that the way water is held within the peach tissue changes during the process. Reducing free and immobilized water helps to preserve the fruit, while the increase in bound water can influence the texture and stability of the final product. The careful control of water status is a key advantage of combined drying methods.

How does combined drying affect the sugar composition in dried peaches, and how does osmotic dehydration (OD) play a role?

The neutral sugar composition of WSP, primarily galactose, arabinose, and rhamnose, is affected by combined drying. These sugars tend to decrease after osmotic dehydration (OD) and instant controlled pressure drop (DIC) assisted infrared radiation drying (IR-DIC). However, the OD pre-treatment seems to offer some protection against this degradation, helping to preserve the sugar content. The preservation of these sugars can contribute to the overall flavor and nutritional profile of the dried fruit. This aspect is crucial for maintaining consumer appeal and product quality. The sugar profiles are also important to the final shelf life.