Hot Air Drying Process Based on Improvement of Texture Quality of Colla Corii Asini Jujube

In order to improve the overall quality of Colla Corii Asini jujube products, a single factor and two-factor hot-air drying, as well as a heat re-distribution experiment were designed to improve the texture homogeneity of Colla Corii Asini jujube. Fresh jujube was used to prepare Colla Corii Asini jujube by sugar boiling and drying. Together with sensory evaluation, the water activity, hardness, and stickiness were measured to investigate the quality improvement of Colla Corii Asini jujube. An accelerated shelf-life storage microbial and texture test were carried out on the Colla Corii Asini jujube produced under the optimum process. The results showed that the quality of Colla Corii Asini jujube was the best when the drying temperature was 100℃, the drying time was 275 min, with a heat re-distribution operation at the middle of the drying. Under such condition, the water activity of Colla Corii Asini jujube was 0.63, the hardness was 2500.07 g, the stickiness was 967.72 g·sec, the sensory feedback was satisfactory and the texture uniformity of Colla Corii Asini jujube was significantly improved. During the storage period, the Colla Corii Asini jujube products maintained good quality and met the Chinese national microbial standard of food safety. This study would provide a feasible way for the processing of high quality Colla Corii Asini jujube and similar food products.