FOODSCIENCE10

DehydratingBanana

Groupmember1004
1) Noey,NeerachaLokunpai5861078
2) Mai,YonladaNawilaijaroen5861186
3) Cin,TatpichaPhokeeratikul5861163
4) Bee,PunasaSihsobhon5861127

DateJanuary19th,2015

Introduction
Human contains about 5075% of water in their body. We, as a human being, need
water in order to function the body system and stabilize the temperature. Water contains in
every part of our body. A particular person willhavea differentamountofwaterdependson
their age, gender, and activities that they have. Aside from drinking the water, human also
gets the water from metabolism and food. All the food that we eat contains an incredible
amount of water. Three types of water that are heldinthe foodarefirstcalledbulkwater,or
free water. This means that each water molecule is surrounded only by other water
molecules. The water can easily be removed from the food. We mostly found this type of
water in fruit, such asorange,mango,pineapple.Thesecondonecalledtrappedorcapillary
water. It is held in small tubes between certain food components and surrounded by a
physical barrier that prevents the water from easily escaping. The last one called bound
water. The water is attached to nutrients and has a strong bond, so water is not easily
removed.Forexample,waterisattachedtotheproteinorcarbohydrate.
Nowadays, there are varieties of food provided for consumers. The differences typeoffood
contains differences amount of water. For instance, broccoli contains 91 percents of water,
while raisin contains just 15 percents of water. As you can see, there are a huge different
between both of them. As aresult,inordertocalculatetheamountofwaterperunitmassof
wet sample or the regular food, we can do it by the following formula which is a mass of
initial food minus the mass of dried food then divided by mass of initial food andtimesthen
by 100. We have to times with 100 because it will give us the percentage of moisture. To
conclude, the percentage of moisture content on wet sample =(MinitialMdried/Minitial)
x100.

Many processes of food preservation facilitate and satisfy the humans need.
Dehydrated food is one of the processes that receives good response from consumers.
Therefore, in this lab, our group conducted the experiment which is based on dehydrated
fruit. Bananas were the fruit sample that we want to dehydrate. The purpose of this lab
experiment is to find out the moisture content of each fruit and compare them with other
groups in order to see different amount of water in various food. As well as be able to
calculatethemoisturecontentanditsaveragebyusingaparticularformula.

Materials

Banana

Glove

Electronic

Waxpaper

Balance

CuttingBoard

Knife

Dehydrator

Calculater

Ruler

Pen/pencil

Procedure

Day1
1.Obtainbanana
2.Cutbananaintopieces,atleast,onepieceforeachgroupmember.Eachmembermust
cuttheirownpiece.Cutafewextrapiecesatdifferentthicknesstotesthowsizeeffects
dehydration.
3.Drawapictureofyoursampleforobservation.
4.Measureyoursamplethicknesswitharuler(incm).
5.Measureyourwaxpapermassontheelectronicbalance.
6.Measureyoursamplemassontheelectronicbalance.
7.Measureyoursamplewithwaxpaperontheelectronicbalance.Eachmembermustmass
theirownsampleoffruitingram.
8.Recordthemassonthedatatable.
9.Placeeachsampleoffruitonarackonthedehydrator.Makesurethefruitisspaced
evenlyapart.
10.Leavefor24hours.

Day2
1. Obtainyourdehydratedsamplefromthedehydrator.
2. Massyourdehydratedsampleingrams.
3. Recordthemassinadatatablewithunits.
4. Drawasamplepictureofthedehydratedsample,describecharacteristiccompared
totheoriginalsample.
5. Calculatethepercentageofmoistureintheoriginalsample.
6. Findtheaveragemoisturecontentpercentageforyourgroupandcomparetoother
groups.

Result
Thedatatableshowthemasssamplebeforeandafterdehydratedandalsothecalculation
ofmoisturecontentofeachpersoningroup

Name

Masssample(g)
beforedehydration

Masssample(g)
afterdehydration

MoistureContent
(%)

Noey

3.08

1.13

1.95/3.08*100
=63.31

Mai

2.34

0.88

1.46/2.34*100
=62.39

Cin

2.18

0.44

1.47/2.18*100
=79.82

Bee2

2.74

0.52

2.22/2.74*100
=81.02

Theaverageofmoisturecontentinthegroupis71.64

Fromtableabove,wecanclearyseethatBee2ssamplehavethehighestpercentageof
moisturecontent

Discussion
1.Whydidtheweightofthesampledecrease?Explain.
Theweightofdehydratedbananaisdecreasedbecausethewateristakenoutfromthefruit
inthisprocess.Thisisnotdonedirectlybyremovingthewater,butthewateristakenoutby
circulationofhot,dryairthroughthefood,and,asaresult,thefoodbecomessmallerand
lighterinweight.

2.Eachgroupmembershouldcommentonthechangestheyobservedfromthewettodry
sample.

Bee2:Thesampleshrinks.Thecolorchangedfromyellowanddarkbrown.Therearethree
linesconnectinthemiddleandpointawayfromeachother.Thethicknessandthediameter
ofthesampledecreases.Somepartsofthesampleturnalittletransparent.Whentasted,
thetextureischewyandstickyandtastessweet.

Mai:Thebananaafterthedehydrationgetssmaller.Thediameterwas2.5cm.beforeitwas
dehydrated,butitshrinksafterthedehyrationsothediameterdecreasesto2cm.The
thicknessofthebananaalsoalittlebitdecreases,from0.5to0.2cm.Therawbananais
verysoftandsquishy.However,thetextureofbananabecomesveryhardaswellassticky
whenitisdehydrated.ThelastchangethatIhaveobservedisthecolorofbanana.Itwas
yellowatfirstandwhenitisputintodehydrator,itchangestobebrown.

Cin:Thechangesaresizeofsamplethatsmallerfrom1.2cmto0.9cmdiameter,0.5cmto
0.4cmofthickness,thelightyellowchangedtobrownyellowwiththeveryfreshtovery
sweetsmellandthetexturearechangedfromsoftly,squishyanddrytostickytoshrink.

Noey:Afterbananadehydrated,theyvesamethicknessbutarelessinlengthofdiaeter.The
colorturnfromimmatureyellowtoamber.Thesmellisnotsodifferentfromtheonebefore
dehydrate.Thebananaaredrysothererenomucilageleftonthesurface.

3.Doyouthinkyoursampleneededmoretimetodry?Whyorwhynot?
Yes,thebanananeedmoretimetodrybecausethesampleistoosticky.Wecanstillfeel
themoistureonthebananasurface.Itmaynotbethatsafetokeepthedrybananaforthe
futureconsuming.However,itisfinetoeatthesebananaswithinthatdayduetoits
moistness.

4.Howdidtheaveragemoisturecontentoftheotherfruitsamplescomparetoyourgroup?
Mostly,theaveragemoisturecontentofothergroupsismorethanourgroup,except
avocadogroup.Thisisbecausedifferentfruitscontainadifferentkindofwaterinadifferent
amount.

5.Whydidsomesamplesdehydratemoreefficientlythanothers?(Forwithinyourgroupand
alsobetweendifferentgroups)

Thesampleofanothergrouphasmoredehydrateandmoreefficientlyofthesize,thickness
andthemoisturecontent.Andmaybebecauseofbulkwaterorfreewaterwhichwater
moleculeissurroundedonlybyotherwatermoleculesthateasilytomovewatermolecules
outfromfruit.

6.Researchadvantagesanddisadvantagestodehydratedfoodproductsandexplain.
IncludeAPAcitations.

Advantages

Disadvantages

1. Nopreservativesorchemicaladditives
Dehydratedfoodproductsrequirejustone
ingredientthefoodthatyouwanttodry.
Theresultisusuallynaturalfoodthatcan
staytastyandnutritiousformanymonths.
2. WeightlessWhenthefoodisdehydrated,
theybecomesmallerthantheiroriginalones.
Therefore,theydonttakeupmuchspace
andverylightweightwhichiseasyfor
transportation.
3. PreservelongerAdehydratedfood
productcanstoreformanymonthswithout
beingrotten.
4. PreventbacteriagrowthRemovinga
moistfromfruit,sothebioorganismcant
growandspoilthefood.

1. Highincaloriedehydrationisaprocess
thatremoveswateroutsodehydratedfood
gainhigherincaloriesthantheirfreshfood.
Eatingtoomuchdriedfruitcanleadtoweight
gainduetoitshighercaloriecontentthan
freshfood.
2. HighinsugarDehydratedfoodsmay
containsugarinordertoaddmoreflavorsto
thefoodwithoutprovidinganyadditional
nutrients.
3. Leadtohypertensionandcoronaryheart
diseaseSaltisanothercommon
preservativeindehydratedfoodproducts.It
ishighsodiumwhichcanresultin
hypertensionandcoronaryheartdisease.

Conclusion
From the experiment, the average moisture content of banana is71.64%.Bananais
the fourth most waters contained fruitinthe class.ThemostwatercontainedfruitisChinese
pear, and the least is avocado. The result shows one thing that will effect is whether the
water completely comes out from fruit or not. Our team members have learned a lot about
moisture in food. In order to get an accurate moisture content and even improve our
experiment to be better, cutting board with the measured unit should be used when we cut
the samples. The sampleswillbe evaporatedbetteriftheyare equallyapartfromeachother
placed in the dehydrator so hot air can flow easily, and the fruit will evaporate better and
quicker. The dehydrating time should not be too long or too short, for the fruit tobeingood
texture. The observation should be made every after a period of time, especially when the
fruitsarestartedtodry.

Bibliography
DehydratingFood[BenefitsandTips].(2012).RetrievedJanuary28,2016,from
http://www.diynatural.com/dehydratingfood/

DehydratingFoodFruit,Vegetables,andMeat.(n.d.).RetrievedJanuary28,2016,from
http://www.providentlivingtoday.com/DehydratingFood.html

Worklog

Everyone:analyzen.2
Bee:Conclusion,Analyzen.4
Cin:Materials/Procedures,Analyzen.5
Noey:Introduction,Results,Analyzen.1,3
Mai:Introduction,Analyzen.6