Received: 13 August 2018 Revised: 31 December 2018 Accepted: 22 January 2019

DOI: 10.1111/jfpe.13022

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Foam mat drying of fig fruit: Optimization of foam composition

and physicochemical properties of fig powder
Emine Varhan | Feyza Elmas | Mehmet Koç

Faculty of Engineering, Department of Food

Engineering, Aydın Adnan Menderes
University, Aydin, Turkey
Correspondence
Mehmet Koç, Faculty of Engineering,
Department of Food Engineering, Aydın Adnan
Menderes University, 09010 Aydin, Turkey.
Email: mehmetkoc@adu.edu.tr
Funding information
Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Council of
Scientific Research Projects , Grant/Award
Number: MF-17003
Abstract
In this study, we report an optimization study on fig foam composition and hot air/microwave-
assisted foam mat drying (FMD) at different conditions to produce fig powder. The effects of
foam composition on foam stability and capacity were evaluated. The optimum ratio of fig, egg
white, carboxymethyl cellulose, and maltodextrin was determined as 52.9, 28.9, 0.8, and 17.4%
(wt/wt), respectively, targeting maximum foam capacity and minimum drainage volume, that is,
maximum foam stability. The effects of drying methods and their conditions were investigated
on the drying rate of fig foam and physicochemical properties of fig powder. Moisture content,
water activity, particle and bulk properties, and hydroxymethylfurfural and total phenolic con-
tents of FMD fig powder were analyzed to understand the effect of drying methods and condi-
tions on the physicochemical properties of fig powder.

Practical applications
Although fig fruit is generally dried as a whole, the ready-to-eat foods in the food market are mostly
in powder form. That is why the powdering fig fruit by an appropriate drying method is essential. In
this study, we report the foam mat-dried (FMD) fig fruit powder. The fig foam composition was
optimized. The fig foam was dried through hot air and microwave separately. The results showed
that the foam capacity and stability of the fig powder highly depend on the foam composition.
Microwave drying method was found more efficient than the hot air in the sense of time. Besides,
the higher foam thickness provided more hydroxymethylfurfural content in the fig powder. The dry-
ing method and conditions were found to be important to produce a high-quality FMD fig powder.

1 | I N T RO D UC T I O N
Fig fruit (Ficus carica L.), an important part of the Mediterranean diet,
has become a symbol of health and long life. It has high nutritional con-
tents than most of the fruits. In western and northern Europe, it is con-
sidered as exotic as it is rich in crude and reducing fiber, minerals, and
polyphenols (Gocmez & Seferoglu, 2014). However, it lives short in shelf
as compared to other fruits due to its high moisture and sugar contents.
Fresh fig fruit is susceptible to microbial deterioration, even under cold
storage, that makes a lower fortune to the traders and exporters. There-
fore, it is consumed as fresh in the season, while sold in the dried form
for the rest of the year (Farahnaky, Ansari, & Majzoobi, 2009).
The consumption rate of dried figs (throughout the world, and
especially in Turkey) is quite high as compared to fresh figs. Only 30%
Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Grant/Award Number: MF-17003
of the fig fruit produced in Turkey is consumed in the fresh form for
table consumption (jam and marmalade), while 70% is utilized in the
dried form (DFAR, 2015) as snacks in muesli, breakfast, cereals, fruit
bars, biscuits, and cakes. Data show that about 53% of the world's
dried figs are produced in Turkey (International Hard Shell and Dry
Fruit Council – INC). Fresh figs have limited harvest time and, there-
fore, are less sustainable. The limited harvesting time is an important
problem in the serial production of figs, which must be addressed.
Dried figs are used in the commercial confectioneries, but that also
reduce the quality such as texture.
The ready-to-eat foods in the food market are mostly powdered;
therefore, an appropriate method to dry figs will increase their usage
in various products. The powder technology is gaining importance in
the food industry and to food producers (Koc & Ertekin, 2016). In fig
powder production, the use of fresh fig fruit as raw material is limited

J Food Process Eng. 2019;42:e13022. wileyonlinelibrary.com/journal/jfpe © 2019 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. 1 of 13

https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpe.13022
2 of 13 VARHAN ET AL.

due to its seasonal nature and difficulties and high cost in harvesting
and storage. Furthermore, the aroma, which is an essential criterion
for powder products, can be effectively obtained from dried figs. The
healthy diet and ready-to-eat food concept have become important
consumer demand. Shortly, the trend is easy-cum-healthy products.
Drying technology is usually preferred to produce food powder. Spray
drying, tray drying, freeze drying, foam mat drying (FMD), and micro-
wave drying are the most used drying methods to produce powdered
products. However, the obtained product after drying (except for
spray drying) is scraped and milled to obtain powder.
FMD has attracted a great attention recently to dry foods, espe-
cially those rich in sugar. FMD is also superior over other drying
methods in terms of drying time, economically, and product quality.
FMD starts with whipping liquid or semiliquid material to form a sta-
ble foam. Then, the foam is spread over tray, drum, or moving bands
and dry by conduction, convection, or radiation.
Foam is a system that consists of dispersed and continuous phase
separated by a thin film liquid layer (Hardy & Jideani, 2017). Gas bubbles
in the foam provide porous structure and large surface area. It increases
the drying rate and reduces the drying time. Moreover, the porous
structure leads to the better reconstitution properties to the final prod-
uct. Stable gas–liquid foam is the primary condition for successful FMD.
If the bubbles are unstable, they tend to merge with their adjacent bub-
bles too enlarge, thus leading to more drainage. This circumstance is
undesirable in FMD and final product quality (Azizpour, Mohebbi, Kho-
daparast, & Varidi, 2014; Muthukumaran, Ratti, & Raghavan, 2008).
In order to provide stable gas–liquid foam, high-molecular weight
polysaccharides such as xanthan gum (Muthukumaran et al., 2008;
Salahi, Mohebbi, & Taghizadeh, 2015), arabic gum, starch, maltodex-
trin (MD) (Sramek, Schweiggert, Van Kampen, Carle, & Kohlus, 2015),
pectins, carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC) (Branco, Kikuchi, Argandona,
Moraes, & Haminiuk, 2016; Chaves, Barreto, Reis, & Kadam, 2013;
Kaushal, Sharma, & Sharma, 2013; Wilson, Kadam, & Kaur, 2012), and
methyl cellulose (Djaeni, Prasetyaningrum, Sasongko, Widayat, & Hii,
2015; Raharitsifa, Genovese, & Ratti, 2006) are used as foaming stabi-
lizers, while protein-structured components such as soy proteins
(Rajkumar, Kailappan, Viswanathan, Raghavan, & Ratti, 2007; Sankat &
Castaigne, 2004; Zheng, Liu, & Zhou, 2011), whey proteins (Sramek
et al., 2015), casein, egg white (EW) (Abbasi & Azizpour, 2016; Kadam
et al., 2011; Kandasamy, Varadharaju, Kalemullah, & Maladhi, 2014;
yacon juice (Franco et al., 2016), and cherry (Abbasi & Azizpour, 2016). In
the context of FMD, the effects of temperature, layer thickness, and
composition of the foam on quality of final products were determined.
This study aimed to determine the optimum fig foam composition
in terms of fig, EW, CMC, and MD ratio with targeting maximum foam
capacity (FC) and minimum drainage volume (DV), that is, maximum
foam stability. After determining the optimum fig foam composition,
it was dried to evaluate the effect of FMD methods (hot air and
microwave) at certain conditions (air temperature, microwave power,
and foam layer thickness) on the fig powder's physical and chemical
properties.
2 | M A T E R I A L S A N D M ET H O D S
2.1 | Materials
Whole dried fig fruit (F. carica L.; dry matter ~80%) and EW were pur-
chased from a local market in the Aydın province of Turkey. CMC and
MD (DE 20) were purchased from Smart Kimya (Izmir, Turkey).
2.2 | Sample preparation and foam production
Firm-dried figs of uniform color and size were selected and softened
in an amount of water added according to the dry matter content to
be prepared and crushed for 5 min by a Waring blender to obtain a
homogeneous mixture. Liquid EW as a foaming agent was mixed using
a kitchen type mixer (K1260; Arçelik A.Ş., Istanbul, Turkey) for 2 min
at minimum speed. MD as drying additive and CMC as foam stabilizer
were added to the prepared mixture and mixed for 15 s. Then, this
foam was remixed with homogenized fig for 3 min using the kitchen
type mixer at minimum speed. The final foam consisted of 30% dry
matter.
D-optimal mixture design was used to define the effect of fig
foam composition in terms of fig ratio (40–60%), EW ratio (10–30%),
CMC ratio (0.2–0.8%), and MD ratio (9.20–49.8%) on FC (%), and DV
(mL) (Table 1). D-optimal mixture included 35 runs, with five runs at
the central point. Linear (Equation 1), modified quadratic (Equation 2),
and modified cubic (Equation 3) polynomial equations were fit to the

Raharitsifa & Ratti, 2009; Wilson, Kadam, Chadha, Grewal, & Sharma, experimental data for each independent variable as given below:

2014), egg albumin (Franco, Perussello, Ellendersen, & Masson, 2016; X

4

Prakotmak, Soponronnarit, & Prachayawarakorn, 2011; Thuwapani- Y k = βk0 + βki xi + ek ð1Þ

i=1
chayanan, Prachayawarakorn, & Soponronnarit, 2008), and gelatin are
used as foaming agents. Foaming stabilizers improve the foam stability X
4 X
4
Y k = βk0 + βki xi + βkij xi xj + ek ð2Þ
by increasing the interfacial viscoelasticity, while foaming agents cre- i=1 i, j = 1

ate air gaps and intramolecular hydrogen bonds in the foam.

X
4 X
4 X
4 X
4  
Recently, certain studies have been conducted on the FMD over Y k = βk0 + βki xi + βkij xi xj + βkijl xi xj xl + βkij xi xj xl − xj + ek
i=1 i, j = 1 i, j, l = 1 i, j = 1
various food products such as atemoya pulp (Galdino, de Figueirêdo, &
ð3Þ
Queiroz AJ de, 2016), honey-glucose syrup (Sramek, Woerz, Horn,
Weiss, & Kohlus, 2016), cantaloupe (Salahi et al., 2015), tomato paste
(Sramek et al., 2015), carrageenan (Djaeni et al., 2015), shrimp (Azizpour where Yk is a response variable (Y1 = FC [%]; Y2 = DV [mL]) and xi
et al., 2014), mango (Wilson et al., 2014), banana (Falade & Okocha, and xj represent the coded independent variables (i = 1, 2, 3, and
2012), tomato juice (Kadam & Balasubramanian, 2011), mandarin (Kadam 4 = X1, X2, X3, X4). X1 is the fig, X2 is the EW, X3 is the CMC, and X4 is
et al., 2011), papaya (Kandasamy et al., 2014), uavia (Branco et al., 2016), the MD. βk0, βki, βkij, and βkijl are regression coefficients.
VARHAN ET AL. 3 of 13

TABLE 1 D-optimal mixture design following the foam mat drying of fig

Mixture variables Responses

Std Fig (%, db) Egg white (%, db) Carboxymethyl cellulose (%, db) Maltodextrin (%, db) Foam capacity (%) Drainage volume (mL)
1 40.0 10.0 0.2 49.8 175.03 ± 3.18 10.00 ± 0.00
2 60.0 30.0 0.8 9.2 326.20 ± 34.81 0.05 ± 0.07
3 60.0 10.0 0.6 29.4 163.06 ± 0.00 3.65 ± 0.00
4 50.0 10.0 0.5 39.5 167.41 ± 1.72 9.00 ± 1.41
5 55.0 15.0 0.4 29.7 206.68 ± 0.00 0.11 ± 0.15
6 45.0 25.0 0.4 29.7 290.59 ± 3.28 1.50 ± 0.00
7 40.0 10.0 0.8 49.2 224.66 ± 0.00 17.30 ± 3.61
8 40.0 30.0 0.2 29.8 338.69 ± 13.50 1.50 ± 2.12
9 53.3 10.0 0.8 35.9 173.80 ± 0.50 13.00 ± 0.01
10 60.0 20.0 0.8 19.2 256.56 ± 11.00 0.02 ± 0.01
11 60.0 20.0 0.2 19.8 221.09 ± 4.06 0.15 ± 0.07
12 46.7 16.7 0.2 36.5 220.18 ± 9.44 0.45 ± 0.35
13 60.0 10.0 0.2 29.8 138.87 ± 1.21 1.95 ± 0.07
14 40.0 23.3 0.8 35.9 402.66 ± 35.68 0.01 ± 0.01
15 40.0 16.7 0.4 42.9 241.97 ± 11.39 1.00 ± 0.71
16 40.0 30.0 0.6 29.4 313.63 ± 0.00 1.29 ± 1.82
17 53.3 30.0 0.2 16.5 344.95 ± 8.48 0.01 ± 0.01
18 46.7 30.0 0.8 22.5 366.69 ± 21.65 0.26 ± 0.35
19 55.0 25.0 0.7 19.4 258.94 ± 8.33 0.05 ± 0.07
20 60.0 30.0 0.4 9.6 274.49 ± 4.28 0.00 ± 0.00
21 50.0 20.0 0.8 29.2 257.43 ± 2.78 1.25 ± 0.35
22 55.0 20.0 0.5 24.5 230.25 ± 10.79 0.01 ± 0.01
23 50.0 25.0 0.4 24.7 267.33 ± 32.84 0.26 ± 0.35
24 46.7 10.0 0.2 43.1 133.35 ± 0.11 7.50 ± 3.54
25 40.0 20.0 0.5 39.5 281.78 ± 8.95 0.01 ± 0.01
26 50.0 20.0 0.5 29.5 258.39 ± 3.70 0.38 ± 0.19
27 50.0 20.0 0.5 29.5 245.49 ± 5.34 0.00 ± 0.00
28 50.0 20.0 0.5 29.5 238.83 ± 0.27 0.01 ± 0.00
29 50.0 20.0 0.5 29.5 249.56 ± 1.91 0.00 ± 0.00
30 50.0 20.0 0.5 29.5 226.59 ± 5.45 0.33 ± 0.37
31 40.0 10.0 0.8 49.2 161.86 ± 1.28 19.83 ± 4.66
32 53.3 30.0 0.2 16.5 328.37 ± 10.79 0.63 ± 0.21
33 40.0 30.0 0.2 29.8 424.79 ± 10.79 0.16 ± 0.21
34 60.0 30.0 0.4 9.6 341.53 ± 7.09 0.06 ± 0.06
35 60.0 20.0 0.2 19.8 221.09 ± 0.00 0.01 ± 0.01

Regression analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) of each
response were applied to the experimental data to fit the models and
determine the statistical significance of the model terms represented
by Equations 1, 2, and 3. The adequacy of the regression model was
checked by model analysis, lack-of-fit test, and R2 (coefficient of
determination). A good model will have a high predicted R2 and an
insignificant lack of fit. Response surface analysis, mapping of plots,
and response optimization were carried out by Design Expert 7.0.0.
2.3 | Optimization
The success of the foam drying process depends on whether the prod-
uct to be dried can be converted into a suitable foam structure. The
suitability of the foam structure is expressed by the volume and stability
of the foam. The optimum content of fig, MD, foamed agent, and stabi-
lizer added to the mix is optimized to provide maximum FC and foam
stability. Numerical optimization of the foam composition was carried
out with the aim to find the optimized levels of independent factors
using Design Expert 7.0.0 software (Stat-Ease, Inc., Minneapolis). All of
the independent variables were kept within the experimental range,
while DV (five significant) was minimized and FC (one significant) was
maximized. The high FC is important for the drying process as it
expands the surface area of the foam. However, during the drying pro-
cess, low drainage, and protect foam structure are more important. For
this reason, while FC has one significant, DV has five significant.
2.4 | Drying experiments
2.4.1 | Tray drying
The optimized foam was spread (thicknesses 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0 cm)
on an aluminum tray and forwarded to dehydration in a tray dryer
4 of 13
(TK-10, Eksis Makina, Isparta, Turkey) under controlled temperature
 weight of empty pycnometer (g), ρ is the density of 2-propanol
(60, 70, and 80 C) and constant airspeed (1.5 m/s). The process of
drying was followed by weighing the plate containing foam at regular
intervals (5 min) on an electronic balance (BL-3200; ±0.01 g accuracy;
Shimadzu, Kyoto, Japan). The drying rate was calculated by Equation 4.
The dried foam was powdered in a coffee grinder.
2.4.2 | Microwave drying
Prepared foam was spread (thicknesses 0.5, 0.7, and 1.0 cm) on cooking
paper and forwarded to dehydration in a home-type microwave oven
(9658 SYTI; Arçelik A.Ş.) at different powers (100, 300, and 600 W).
The moisture loss was determined by weighing the samples every 2 min
with an electronic balance, while drying rate was calculated by the fol-
lowing equation. The dried matter was powdered in a coffee grinder.
X0 − Xt
R=
A × Δt
where R is the drying rate (kg H2O/hr m2), A is the exposed surface
area to drying (m2), X0 is the initial moisture (kg), Xt is the moisture
(kg) at t time, and Δt is the time interval (hr).
2.5 | Analysis of the fig foam
2.5.1 | Foam capacity
Foaming capacity was determined by measuring liquid and foam den-
sity. Measuring cylinder (15 mL) was carefully filled up with the foam
and liquid. The weight of the foam and liquid was recorded followed
by calculating the density of the liquid. The FC was calculated using
the following equation:
foam density ðg=mLÞ
foam capacity ð%Þ = × 100
liquid density ðg=mLÞ
2.5.2 | Drainage volume
DV of the foam was measured by the method of Azizpour et al.
(2014). Fifty grams of foam was poured into a Buchner funnel (80 mm
diameter) that was placed on a 50-mL graduated cylinder. The liquid
volume drained from the foam after 30 min was reported as the DV.
2.6 | Analysis of the fig powder
2.6.1 | Moisture content
Moisture content (MC) of fig powders was measured with an infrared
moisture analyzer (MAC 50; Radwag, Radom, Poland).
2.6.2 | The water activity
Water activity (aw) of fig powders was measured with an aw measurement
device (Testo 400; ±0.001 sensitivity; Testo AG, Lenzkirch, Germany).
2.6.3 | Particle density
Particle density (ρp) of the powder sample was analyzed by pycno-
metric method with 2-propanol using the following equation
(Barbosa-Cánovas & Juliano, 2005):
ðms − m0 Þρ
ρp =
ðm1 − m0 Þ − ðmsl − ms Þ
VARHAN ET AL.
where ms is the weight of pycnometer with powder product (g), m0 is the
(0.785 g/mL), ml is the weight of pycnometer with 2-propanol (g), and msl
is the weight of pycnometer with 2-propanol and powder product (g).
2.6.4 | Carr index
Flowability of the samples was evaluated in terms of CI from the bulk
and tapped densities of the powder using the following equation
(Carr, 1965):
 
ρtapped − ρbulk
CI ð%Þ = × 100 ð7Þ
ρtapped
To determine the bulk density, 4 g of fig powder was gently
loaded into a 10-mL graduated cylinder. The measured volume was
used to calculate the bulk density according to the relationship:
mass/volume. To determine the tapped density, the full cylinder
ð4Þ
dropped 100 times onto the ground and the final volume recorded
was used in the calculations.
2.6.5 | Reconstitution properties
To determine the reconstitution properties of fig powder, wettability
(W), dispersibility (D), and solubility (S) analyses were carried out.
Dispersibility and wettability of the fig powder were measured in
water according to the procedure reported by Jinapong, Suphanthar-
ika, and Jamnong (2008). For solubility analysis, 1 g of powder sample
was diluted with 25 mL of distilled water and mixed with Ultra Turrax
(T 25 digital ultra-turrax; IKA, Staufen, Germany) at 3,000 rpm (127 g)
for 5 min. The obtained mixtures were transferred into tubes and cen-
trifuged at 3,000 rpm for 5 min. The supernatant was dried at 105  C
for 4 hr, and the solubility was calculated.
ð5Þ
2.6.6 | Particle size distribution
The size distribution of fig powder particles was measured by the laser
light diffraction particle size analyzer (Malvern Mastersizer Model 2000;
Malvern Instruments, Inc., Worcestershire, UK). To prevent multiple
scattering effects, the particles were diluted with 2-propanol. Determi-
nations were repeated five times, and the average was obtained.
The mean diameter of the fig particles is expressed as the volume
mean diameter (D[4,3]).
P 4
ni d
D½43 = P i3 ð8Þ
ni di
where ni is the number of particles of diameter di.
d90 − d10
span = ð9Þ
d50
d90, d10, and d50 represent equivalent volume diameters with a
cumulative volume of 90, 10, and 50%, respectively.
2.6.7 | Hydroxymethylfurfural content
5-Hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) was analyzed using HPLC (LC20a;
Shimadzu). A total of 2.5 g of fig powder was dissolved in 25 mL of
distilled water, filtered through 0.45 μm, and injected into the HPLC
which was equipped with a diode array detector. A calibration curve
ð6Þ
was prepared to determine the amount of HMF in the sample. The
VARHAN ET AL.
chromatographic conditions were as follows: mobile phase, 80% HPLC
grade water and 20% HPLC grade methanol; flow rate, 1 mL/min;
injection volume, 20 μL; column characteristics, C18; particle diameter,
3 μm; column LxID, 150 × 4.6.
2.6.8 | Total phenolic content
Folin–Ciocalteu method was used to analyze the total phenolic
content (TPC) in fig powder. About 1 g of fig powder sample was dis-
solved in 19 mL of distilled water and immersed in water bath (50  C)
at 150 rpm for 15 min. Then, the mixture was filtered through filter
paper to obtain a clear extract. A total of 0.5 mL of the obtained
extract was mixed with 2.5 mL of Folin–Ciocalteu solution and 2 mL
of sodium carbonate in a vial and kept in the dark for 2 hr. The absor-
bance of this final mixture was measured at 760 nm wavelength in
the spectrophotometer (UV-1800; Shimadzu). A calibration curve of
gallic acid (3,4,5-trihydroxybenzoic acid) was prepared. The results
were given as gallic acid equivalents per gram of sample.
2.7 | Statistical analysis
In the foam formation step, the effects of the mixture of fig, foaming
agent, foam stabilizer, and carrier material on the foaming capacity
and DV were determined using the Design Expert 7.0.0 software
according to the D-optimal mix design. The effect of the selected tem-
perature and radiated foam thickness on the quality characteristics of
the fig powder was determined by the ANOVA using the SPSS soft-
ware version 15.0 for Windows (SPSS, Inc., Chicago, IL). Duncan’s
multiple comparison test was applied to the data obtained. Thus, the
statistical significance of each independent variable on the character-
istics of dried fig powder quality was found by applying the Fischer’s
test (F-test) at 95% confidence level.
3 | RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
3.1 | Optimization of fig foam composition
Food foam structure generally consists of air and liquid phase, whereas
gas is dispersed and is thermodynamically unstable. In order to obtain
FIGURE 1 Perturbation plots for foam capacity (a) and drainage volume (b) (fig ratio [X1], egg white ratio [X2], carboxymethyl cellulose ratio [X3],
and maltodextrin ratio [X4])
5 of 13
stable foam, that is, low DV, foaming agent, and foam stabilizer should be
used in an appropriate level. Foam is generally unstable below the critical
stabilizer level. However, a high dose of stabilizer makes the air entrap-
ment difficult during stirring or mechanical mixing and inhibits foaming.
Moreover, high dose of the foaming agent also shows an adverse effect
on the foam stability due to large bubbles formation, although the high
dose of foaming agent results in high FC (Ratti & Kudra, 2006; Varhan &
Koc, 2017). The concentration of foam stabilizer and agent should be
optimized considering both FC and stability together to achieve an effec-
tive foam drying process. The results for DV and FC of fig foam are pre-
sented in Table 1. The FC of fig foam samples varied from 133.35 to
424.79%, while DV was found in between 0.00 and 19.83 mL.
The change in FC and DV of fig foam samples is shown as perturba-
tion plots in Figure 1a,b, respectively, with respect to fig ratio (X1), EW
ratio (X2), CMC ratio (X3), and MD ratio (X4) were produced by linear and
modified cubic mathematical models, respectively. A summary of the
results of the model analysis, lack of fit, and R2 analysis is given in Table 2.
The significance of model and nonsignificance of lack of fit showed that
the linear model was suitable to explain the change in FC as well as a
modified cubic model for DV. The lowest numerical difference between
adj-R2 and pre-R2 also confirmed the suitability of these models.
The FC increased significantly (Figure 1a) with increasing EW con-
centration as a foaming agent (p < .001) (Table 3). The rise in foaming
agent concentration reduces the surface tension (due to the move-
ment of the foaming agents) from aqueous phase to the air–liquid
interface. This mechanism leads to an increase in foaming capacity.
Moreover, more trapping of air during mixing decreased the foam
density. Thus, FC increased (Falade, Adeyanju, & Uzo-Peters, 2003).
However, the higher amount of fig and MD in fig foam decreased the
FC (p < .001), as fig and MD did not contribute to foaming. Even MD
and fig destroyed the foam structure and lowered the FC. The FC
increased slightly with CMC (foam stabilizer) ratio as it reduces the
surface tension of the aqueous system. Lower surface tension led
more air into the foam structure that consequently increased the
FC. However, according to Azizpour et al. (2014), higher concentra-
tion of xanthan gum (foam stabilizer) resulted in an increase in the vis-
cosity of the mixture that led to a decrease in the incorporation of air
6 of 13 VARHAN ET AL.

TABLE 2 Summary of results for model analysis, lack of fit, and R2 analysis for foam capacity and drainage volume

Foam capacity Drainage volume

Source Sum of squares F-value p-Value Sum of squares F-value p-Value
Model analysis
Mean vs. total 2,300,318 240.1
Linear vs. mean 151,669 62.2 <.0001 494.6 13.08 <.0001
Quadratic vs. linear 5,101 1.06 .414 334.8 24.90 <.0001
Special cubic vs. quadratic 2,879 0.88 .494 19.29 2.76 .055
Cubic vs. special cubic 6,757 1.61 .211 30.62 12.53 <.0001
Residual 10,471 6.11
Total 2,477,198 1,125
Lack of fit
Linear 16,576 0.79 .695 386.4 35.56 <.0001
Quadratic 11,474 0.75 .707 51.58 6.53 .004
Special cubic 8,595 0.75 .688 32.29 5.45 .008
Cubic 1837 0.32 .911 1.66 0.56 .751
Pure error 8,633 4.45
R2 analysis Adj-R2 Pred-R2 PRESS Adj-R2 Pred-R2 PRESS
Linear 0.844 0.805 34,519 0.516 0.409 523.3
Quadratic 0.845 0.723 48,955 0.914 0.864 120.9
Special cubic 0.842 0.553 79,057 0.933 0.819 159.9
Cubic 0.866 0.385 108,814 0.984 0.951 43.21

and FC. For an effective FMD, not only the FC but also foam stability
should be higher.
The DV of fig foam samples varied from 0.00 to 19.83 mL
(Table 1). The effect of fig (X1), EW (X2), CMC (X3), and MD ratio (X4)
on DV is provided in Table 3 and Figure 1b. The lower EW concentra-
tion in fig foam samples increased the DV, thus reducing the stability
and density of foam. However, the DV of fig foam samples increased
when the EW ratio exceeded 25% in the fig foam. Abbasi and Aziz-
pour (2016) and Krasaekoopt and Bhatia (2012) also reported a signifi-
cant reduction in the density and stability of foam when EW
concentration was increased. When foam consists of high amount of
foaming agent and a low amount of foaming stabilizer, the viscosity of
the foam decreases and large bubbles are formed. Consequently, foam
collapses by an increase in foam bubble size with the incorporation of
70 ± 0.05 (wb) to about 7% (wb) after drying. The effect of the foam
thickness, the air temperature for hot air drying, and the microwave
power in case of microwave drying were evaluated.
The changes in drying rate versus MC of fig foam samples are
presented in Figure 2. Although the initial MCs of the samples were
quite high, a constant drying rate period was not observed under the
experimental conditions employed. FMD with the overall drying pro-
cess took place in the falling rate period. Due to an increase in the
surface area and the porous structure, removal of water from the
inner surface of fig foam to the outer surface was fast enough to pre-
serve the surface moisture. Exit rate of moisture from the inner sur-
face to the exposed surface decreased with decreasing the MC, which
indicates the falling drying rate period. Karim and Wai (1999) also
found that the FMD process of the starfruit puree foam occurred in

small bubbles of gravity (DeVries, 1958; Labelle, 1966). the falling rate period.
As shown in Figure 1b, increase in the CMC (X3) and MD ratio The drying air temperature and microwave power had a signifi-

(X4) in the fig foam result in higher DV, while the fig ratio (X1) slightly cant effect on the drying rate of fig foam. At the beginning, higher MC

affects the DV. and moisture diffusion resulted higher drying rates. However, during

The optimum fig foam composition, that is, fig (X1), EW (X2), CMC the following drying process, a decrease in drying rate in the rest of

(X3), and MD (X4) ratio, was determined to obtain maximum FC and the falling rate period was observed because of the moisture loss from

minimum DV. Numerical optimization was performed over the param- the sample and possible case hardening on the surface of the foam.

eters of fig foam formulation to obtain the optimum fig foam for the
drying process. Design Expert-version 7.0 software was used for
simultaneous optimization of the multiple responses. The optimum
ratio of fig, EW, CMC, and MD was determined as 52.9, 28.9, 0.8, and
17.4% (wt/wt), respectively with a desirability value of 0.937.
3.2 | Drying behavior of fig foam
The fig foam was dried by hot air and microwave at different condi-
tions to produce fig powder. The MC of fig foam reduced from
According to Muthukumaran et al. (2008), the drying rate during the
final stage was found as 0.35 and 0.32 g/hr for EW foam with 0.125%
XG and EW foam without XG, respectively. The drying rate was lower
at the end of drying due to a reduced MC in the EW sample. As
expected, the drying rate of XG-treated sample was higher than that
without XG due to the stabilized foamed surface during drying. The
higher drying rate was observed in the thicker fig foam, as there were
more water and number of bubbles in the foam. Liquid moves fast
through a dry foam structure than a dense layer of the same material
(Belitz, Grosch, & Schieberle, 2009). The time required to reach the
VARHAN ET AL. 7 of 13

TABLE 3 ANOVA results for each response variables of foam powder were evaluated by physicochemical analysis. Although the
composition optimization in terms of foam capacity (%) and drainage aim was to reduce 70% of the initial MC of fig foam to 7%, the MCs
volume (mL)
of the fig foam samples were quiet higher, especially in microwave-
Sum of dried samples because of the higher sugar content that resulted in fast
Foam properties Sourcea df squares p-Value
case-hardening and local burning problems. That is why the MC of
Drainage Model 19 879.3 <.0001*
volume (mL)
microwave-dried samples observed was in the range of 8–12% (wb).
Linear mixture 3 494.6 <.0001*
However, the MC values of fig powder samples produced by hot air
X1 X2 1 2.019 .0417**
drying were approximately 7% (wb) (Table 4). MC of the fresh mango
X1 X3 1 0.133 .576
pulp is reported as 79.25 ± 1.77%, while that was reduced to
X1 X4 1 0.052 .726
1.12–3.05% in mango powder prepared by FMD (Wilson et al., 2014).
X2 X3 1 0.143 .562
The ANOVA results showed that the MC of fig powder significantly
X2 X4 1 2.405 .0281**
changed with air temperature, microwave power, and foam thickness
X3 X4 1 0.137 .571
(Table 5). The MC of hot air-dried fig powder samples was very close
X1 X2 X3 1 0.138 .570
to each other; although they were dried at different temperatures.
X1 X2 X4 1 2.248 .0329**
However, the MC of fig powder dried under microwave increased
X1 X3 X4 1 0.128 .583
with an increase in foam thickness. The highest MC was determined
X2 X3 X4 1 0.143 .563
in sample dried at 100 W with a thickness of 1.0 cm. Zheng et al.
X1X2(X1–X2) 1 0.385 .346
(2011) also found similar results for microwave-assisted FMD black-
X1X3(X1–X3) 1 0.123 .591
currant pulp. The penetration depth of microwave energy changed
X1X4(X1–X4) 1 0.000 .974
with the foam thickness.
X2X3(X2–X3) 1 0.154 .548
aw values of all the dried samples were measured at 25–27  C
X2X4(X2–X4) 1 9.265 .0002*
(Table 4). The aw values of the hot air-dried fig powder samples were
X3X4(X3–X4) 1 0.134 .575
lower than those dried in the microwave. The aw values of the samples
Residual 15 6.110
dried in microwave were determined in the range of 0.347–0.462,
Lack of fit 6 1.665 .751
whereas the aw values of hot air-dried samples were changed from
Pure error 9 4.445
0.217 to 0.397. Because of the local burning in the microwave-dried
Cor total 34 885.4
samples, the MC of these samples was also higher than hot air-dried
R2 0.993
samples. The aw values of hot air- and microwave-dried fig powder
Adj-R2 0.984
were significantly affected by air temperature, microwave power, and
Pred-R2 0.951
foam thickness (p < .05) (Table 5). The aw of fig powder decreased
Foam capacity (%) Model 3 151,669.4 <.0001*
when foam thickness was decreased while air temperature was
Linear mixture 3 151,669.4 <.0001*
increased in hot air drying and microwave power for microwave drying.
Residual 31 25,210.2
The lower aw value resulted in the lower microbial activity and the
Lack of fit 22 16,576.5 .695
lower enzymatic and nonenzymatic browning reaction rate (Belitz
Pure error 9 8,633.7
et al., 2009). However, due to aw value of less than 0.6, the fig powder
Cor total 34 176,879.6
samples dried by either hot air or microwave can be considered as safe
R2 0.857
to store without microbial growth. According to a study performed on
Adj-R2 0.844
yacon juice, FMD reflected aw of less than 0.25 that is much lower
Pred-R2 0.805
than those of the foams values between 0.96 and 0.98 aw (Franco
a
Fig ratio (X1), egg white ratio (X2), carboxymethyl cellulose ratio (X3), and et al., 2016).
maltodextrin ratio (X4).
*Significant at level p < .01.; **Significant at level p < .05. The effects of drying methods and their conditions on the particle
properties of fig powder were evaluated by particle density and size.
The particle density is the mass of single particles per unit volume,
which is significantly influenced by the density of individual compo-
MC of about 7% (wb) is also given in Table 4. The required time to
nents comprising the solid (proteins, carbohydrates, fat, and minerals)
reach final MC for hot air drying was significantly higher than the
and the presence of occluded air in the particles (Shishir, Taip, Aziz, &
microwave drying. Moreover, the drying time decreased with increas-
Talib, 2014). The particle densities of the fig powder samples obtained
ing air temperature and microwave power and decreasing foam thick- by hot air drying were observed in the range of 1.35 and 1.60 g/cm3,
ness. The similar result was observed in FMD of tomato juice while those obtained by the microwave drying varied in the range of
(Kadam & Balasubramanian, 2011). 1.34 and 1.79 g/cm3 (Table 4). Most of the food particles have consid-
erably lower densities, that is, 1.000–1.500 g/cm3 (Barbosa-Cánovas &
Juliano, 2005). ANOVA showed that the thickness of the fig foam and
3.3 | Fig powder physical properties
the drying power had significant effects on the particle density in the
After microwave or hot air drying, the dried fig foam was powdered fig powder dried using microwave, whereas the thickness of fig foam
by milling. The effects of drying methods and their conditions on fig significantly affected the hot air-dried samples (Table 5).
8 of 13
FIGURE 2 The drying rate of fig foam (0.5, 0.7, and 1.0 cm of foam thickness [FT]) dried at different microwave powers (100 W [×], 300 W [ ],
and 600 W [+]) and hot air temperature (60  C [ ], 70  C [□], and 80  C [Δ])
The particle size distribution is also an important property for food
powder as it is used to determine the usability of the mixtures (Shishir
et al., 2014). The foam thickness, drying temperature, and power sig-
nificantly affected the mean particle diameter and span value of fig
powder samples (Table 5) in the range of 175.597–879.918 μm and
2.487–8.575, respectively. Falade et al. (2003) also reported the size
of FMD cowpea flour particles of less than 850 μm. The particle size of
fig powder increased with increasing drying time. The sugar in fig foam
tends to form sticky structure at the end of drying. Therefore, the dried
fig foam could not be milled finely. The sticky structure of dried fig
foam can be possibly related to the lower glass transition temperature
of sugars in the figs. The particle properties also had a significant effect
on the bulk density, compressibility, and flowability of the powder
product (Barbosa-Cánovas & Juliano, 2005). In this study, a correlation
was found between particle size, CI (r = 0.716, p < .01) and bulk den-
sity (r = 0.635, p < .01) of fig powder dried under microwave. The
results showed that the larger particle size of microwave-dried fig
powder resulted in the higher bulk density and worse flowability. How-
ever, for fig powder dried in tray drying, only the tapped density
increased with the increase in particle size.
Bulk density is an important factor to ease packaging, transporta-
tion, and marketing of powdered foods (Shishir et al., 2014). Powder
particles have a higher bulk density, thus lowering interstitial air con-
tent. A powder product with a high bulk density can be stored in smal-
ler containers that is also feasible for shipping for long distance at
VARHAN ET AL.
reduced transportation and packaging costs. In some cases, a low bulk
density is preferred to illustrate a larger amount of the powder opti-
cally (Bhandari, Patel, & Chen, 2008). In this study, drying tempera-
ture/power and thickness of foam showed a significant influence
(p < .05) on bulk and tapped densities of fig powder dried either with
hot air or with microwave (Table 5). The bulk density varied between
0.36 and 0.50 g/cm3 in case of tray-dried samples, while their tapped
density values ranged from 0.57 to 0.70 g/cm3. The lower bulk den-
sity may be related to the air incorporated into the foams. Similar
behavior was also reported by Falade and Omojola (2010) for FMD
okra powder. Although the drying air temperature had a significant
effect on the bulk density of hot air-dried fig powder, the bulk density
of these samples increased with increasing the foam thickness, though
the foam deforms at longer drying times and air flow. However, the
bulk density of microwave dried fig powder is directly related to the
microwave power. Drying at higher microwave power lowered the
bulk density because the solid structure formed before the air get out
from the foam. That is why the bulk density of microwave-dried fig
powder samples was lesser than those dried under hot air. Fazaeli,
Emam-Djomeh, Ashtari, and Omid (2012) has connected the lower
bulk density of the powder to the higher dehydration temperatures.
The flowability of food powder was greatly influenced by the par-
ticle morphology/shape, particle size/distribution, interparticle forces
(molecular forces, van der Waals forces, etc.), bulk density, residual
MC, and the presence of free fat on the particle surface (Peleg, 1983).
 VARHAN ET AL.

TABLE 4 Effects of thickness (L) and drying temperature (T)/power (P) on moisture content (MC), water activity (aw), bulk (bulk density [ρb], tapped density [ρt], Carr index [CI]), and particle (particle density
[ρp], particle size [D[4,3]], span) properties of foam-mat-dried fig powder

Drying T ( C)/ Drying

method P (W) L (cm) time (min) MC (%) aw ρb (g/cm3) ρt (g/cm3) CI (%) ρp (g/cm3) D[4,3] (μm) Span
c e b,c,d d,e i,j
Tray 60 0.5 95 7.77 ± 0.08 0.318 ± 0.001 0.36 ± 0.01 0.57 ± 0,01 36.08 ± 0.60 1.35 ± 0.03a 255.666 ± 2.031c 5.340 ± 0.031d
drying c c f,g i g,h e,f,g,h c,d
0.7 170 7.69 ± 0.09 0.285 ± 0.001 0.42 ± 0.00 0.63 ± 0,00 32.10 ± 0.76 1.57 ± 0.06 273.949 ± 3.136 4.728 ± 0.032c
1.0 300 7.66 ± 0.03c 0.396 ± 0.001l 0.44 ± 0.00g,h 0.61 ± 0,00g,h,i 27.15 ± 0.12b,c,d 1.50 ± 0.02d,e,f,g 531.552 ± 6.014i 5.470 ± 0.068d
a b h e,f,g,h a a,b,c,d,e b
70 0.5 70 6.13 ± 0.03 0.269 ± 0.001 0.46 ± 0.00 0.60 ± 0,00 23.31 ± 0.23 1.44 ± 0.04 221.089 ± 1.751 7.833 ± 0.038h
b d e,f e,f e,f,g g,h e
0.7 145 7.00 ± 0.14 0.301 ± 0.004 0.40 ± 0.00 0.58 ± 0,00 30.43 ± 0.13 1.60 ± 0.01 306.550 ± 3.706 5.603 ± 0.025d,e
d f j k c,d,e d,e,f,g f
1.0 280 8.27 ± 0.09 0.341 ± 0.002 0.50 ± 0.01 0.70 ± 0,01 27.71 ± 0.21 1.46 ± 0.02 374.614 ± 2.213 6.750 ± 0.035f
80 0.5 65 7.78 ± 0.01c 0.217 ± 0.001a 0.43 ± 0.00g 0.59 ± 0,00e,f,g 26.40 ± 0.08b,c 1.37 ± 0.01a,b,c 175.597 ± 0.874a 8.397 ± 0.122i
c d f,g f,g,h,i d,e,f,g f,g,h c,d
0.7 90 7.66 ± 0.03 0.308 ± 0.005 0.42 ± 0.01 0.60 ± 0,01 30.02 ± 0.29 1.58 ± 0.02 273.557 ± 0.677 5.919 ± 0.110e
c h i k g,h a,b,c,d g
1.0 290 7.65 ± 0.09 0.348 ± 0.005 0.47 ± 0.01 0.69 ± 0,01 31.69 ± 1.20 1.42 ± 0.00 429.897 ± 9.568 8.575 ± 0.138i
h m i j c,d,e a l
Microwave 100 0.5 162 10.42 ± 0.02 0.420 ± 0.001 0.47 ± 0.01 0.57 ± 0.01 27.50 ± 0.11 1.34 ± 0.01 879.918 ± 7.938 4.167 ± 0.030b
drying
0.7 170 11.50 ± 0.10j 0.434 ± 0.001n 0.42 ± 0.01f,g 0.63 ± 0.00c,d 21.43 ± 1.13a 1.49 ± 0.09b,c,d,e,f 786.521 ± 5.745k 4.868 ± 0.112c
k ö d,e a,b a,b a,b,c,d j
1.0 188 12.31 ± 0.04 0.451 ± 0.002 0.38 ± 0.00 0.61 ± 0.00 24.19 ± 0.20 1.42 ± 0.01 687.474 ± 11.551 2.487 ± 0.028a
e g e,f h,i h,i i c,d
300 0.5 29 8.76 ± 0.08 0.347 ± 0.000 0.41 ± 0.01 0.60 ± 0.00 35.90 ± 1.98 1.53 ± 0.04 266.041 ± 2.793 3.867 ± 0.079b
g k,l c,d f,g,h,i j a,b,c,d f
0.7 28 9.75 ± 0.07 0.397 ± 0.004 0.38 ± 0.00 0.58 ± 0.00 36.77 ± 2.25 1.79 ± 0.00 396.250 ± 3.677 6.553 ± 0.068f
1.0 30 11.29 ± 0.10j 0.392 ± 0.001k 0.39 ± 0.01d,e 0.70 ± 0.01b,c 27.50 ± 0.34b,c,d 1.67 ± 0.06h,i 490.298 ± 0.401h 4.582 ± 0.295c
g i a,b a c,d,e,f a,b,c,d i
600 0.5 15 9.88 ± 0.08 0.380 ± 0.000 0.35 ± 0.00 0.59 ± 0.00 28.24 ± 0.33 1.42 ± 0.02 541.395 ± 6.827 7.394 ± 0.063g
f j a,b,c b f,g a,b,c,d d,e
0.7 14 9.12 ± 0.11 0.384 ± 0.001 0.36 ± 0.0 0.60 ± 0.01 30.85 ± 0.85 1.41 ± 0.01 284.774 ± 18.763 5.522 ± 0.241d
i p a a f,g a,b g
1.0 14 11.02 ± 0.04 0.462 ± 0.000 0.34 ± 0.00 0.69 ± 0.01 30.63 ± 0.40 1.38 ± 0.08 441.268 ± 18.884 5.339 ± 0.018d

The different letters on the same columns indicate the significant difference between samples.
9 of 13
10 of 13 VARHAN ET AL.

The lower CI values are favorable for better flowability in case of food

HMF (mg/
powder. CI value of fig powder samples varied between 23 and 36%

g dm)
.006
.000
.202
.006
.009

.000
.000
.000
.007
.001
for hot air drying and 21 and 37% for microwave drying (Table 4)
where the fig powders’ flowability is between slightly poor to poor.

TPC (mg/g dm)

Jakubczyk, Gondek, and Tambor (2011) also found similar flowability
results for FMD apple powder. According to Jinapong et al. (2008),
FMD fig powder samples can be classified as materials with interme-

.059
.000
.071
.030
.257

.001
.000
.000
.004
.091
diate and fair flowability. The flowability of FMD fig powder samples
was significantly affected by the foam thickness and drying tempera-
ture/power (p < .05) (Table 5).

Span
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000

.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
The reconstitution properties namely solubility, dispersibility, and
wettability are also crucial for food powder as determining the conve-

D[4,3] (μm)
nience in use. Solubility is an indicator of the powder's ability to

.000
.000
.000
.000
.000

.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
remain homogeneously mixed with water, that is, the stability of the
mixture composed of particles dissolved in liquid. The solubility of fig
powder samples was increased when the foam thickness was

S (%)
.001
.000
.000
.045
.006

.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
increased, except for the samples dried at 600 W in the microwave
(Table 6). Similar solubility results were also found in the case of FMD

D (%)
.000
.000
.135
.002
.000

.000
.000
.000
.107
.008
mango juice powder, which had the solubility of 51.83–66.65%
(Wilson et al., 2014). The stable structure during the drying process
means more bubbles in the foam during the entire drying process.

W (s)
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000

.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
Therefore, bubbles cause an increase in the porosity of the powder
and its solubility (Abbasi & Azizpour, 2016). Increasing the microwave CI (%)

drying power from 100 to 600 W reduced the drying time and nonho- .000
.000
.000
.001
.000

.000
.000
.000
.030
.002
mogeneous drying, degrading the bubbles. Therefore, powders dried
by microwave drying were less soluble than the tray-dried ones as
ρt (g/cm3)

reported by Abbasi and Azizpour (2016). The effect of drying temper-

.000
.000
.000
.000
.000

.000
.000
.000
.000
.000
atures/powers and foam thicknesses had a significant effect on the
solubility of fig powder as shown in Table 5.
ANOVA results for physical and chemical properties of foam-mat dried fig powder

Dispersibility is a measure of the ability of the powder product to

ρb (g/cm3)

disperse into the whole solution by mixing, which is a factor determin-

.000
.000
.000
.000
.000

.000
.000
.000
.001
.007
ing their usability in the food industry (Hui et al., 2008). This property
also includes the behavior of the lumps/agglomerates falling apart into
individual particles. Mechanically strong agglomerates tend to have
ρp (g/cm3)

good wettability but poor dispersibility (Chen & Ozkan, 2007). As a

.001
.000
.101
.000
.232

.001
.000
.000
.020
.159

result of the ANOVA, it was found that the dispersibility of FMD fig
powder was significantly affected by the drying temperature/power
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000

.000
.000
.000
.000
.000

and thickness (Table 5). The dispersibility values of FMD fig powder
aw

were found between 65.41 and 79.73% for hot air and 55.98 and
L, thickness; T, drying temperature; P, microwave power.

82.00% for microwave drying (Table 6). Particles with high pore con-
p-Value

MC (%)
.000
.000
.000
.000
.000

.000
.000
.000
.000
.000

tent are essential for good dispersibility. Falade et al. (2003) also
reported that the FMD cowpea flours dispersed readily in water due
to the foam structure incorporated into the product.
18

18
df
8
1
2
2
4
9

8
1
2
2
4
9

The wettability time of FMD fig powder samples with hot air dry-
ing was found between 125 and 1,305 s, while those dried under
Intercept

Intercept
Sourcea
Model

Model

microwave provided 35 and 2,910 s (Table 6). The wettability of FMD

Total

Total
Error

Error
P×L
T×L

fig powder was enhanced with increasing the foam thickness due to
P
T
L

high pore content. Additionally, more time was required for the pow-
Microwave drying

der to become fully wet compared to instant powder due to the swell-
Drying method

ing of fibers in the fig and gelling property of CMC used as foam
Tray drying

stabilizer. ANOVA (Table 5) showed that the wettability time of

TABLE 5

FMDfig powder was significantly affected by the drying tempera-

ture/power and thickness (p < .05).
a
VARHAN ET AL. 11 of 13

TABLE 6 Effects of thickness (L) and drying temperature (T)/power (P) on total phenolic content (TPC), hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), and
reconstitution properties (solubility [S], wettability [W], dispersibility [D]) of foam-mat-dried fig powder
Drying method T ( C)/P (W) L (cm) TPC (mg/g db) HMF (mg/g db) S (%) W (s) D (%)
Tray drying 60 0.5 8.75 ± 0.47f,g 0.11 ± 0.00c,d,e,f 73.57 ± 0.06e 638 ± 7h 75.12 ± 0.33d,e,f
g,h b d,e g
0.7 9.56 ± 0.21 0.08 ± 0.04 72.02 ± 1.75 448 ± 8 74.83 ± 0.12d,e,f
c,d,e,f,g g d d
1.0 7.89 ± 1.33 0.13 ± 0.00 70.80 ± 0.60 219 ± 7 71.48 ± 0.34c,d
c,d,e,f f,g e i
70 0.5 7.45 ± 1.51 0.13 ± 0.01 73.73 ± 0.19 690 ± 17 65.41 ± 0.30b
0.7 9.26 ± 0.18f,g,h 0.13 ± 0.00f,g 76.90 ± 0.27f 125 ± 0m 79.73 ± 1.00g,h
f,g,h d,e,f,g f c
1.0 9.29 ± 0.39 0.11 ± 0.01 76.25 ± 0.39 177 ± 6 75.26 ± 0.53d,e,f
f,g,h b,c,d e n
80 0.5 8.92 ± 0.83 0.09 ± 0.01 73.07 ± 0.22 1,305 ± 5 74.70 ± 0.94d,e
h b,c,d f k
0.7 10.67 ± 0.06 0.10 ± 0.00 76.21 ± 0.52 910 ± 0 73.24 ± 2.58c,d
1.0 9.64 ± 0.50g,h 0.16 ± 0.01h 76.91 ± 0.21f 375 ± 0f 77.70 ± 0.16e,f,g
d,e,f,g d,e,f,g,h f a
Microwave drying 100 0.5 8.24 ± 1.65 0.11 ± 0.00 75.84 ± 0.58 36 ± 1 78.74 ± 0.08f,g,h
b,c e,f,g g a
0.7 6.24 ± 1.54 0.12 ± 0.00 80.45 ± 0.04 35 ± 1 81.35 ± 1.32g,h
e,f,g b,c,d g b
1.0 8.46 ± 0.06 0.10 ± 0.01 80.21 ± 0.52 122 ± 1 82.00 ± 1.42h
300 0.5 6.80 ± 0.33b,c,d,e 0.10 ± 0.01b,c,d,e 79.93 ± 0.36g 2,910 ± 0p 69.95 ± 1.76c
b b c l
0.7 5.48 ± 0.36 0.08 ± 0.00 66.46 ± 0.08 963 ± 8 65.01 ± 0.25b
b b,c f j
1.0 5.32 ± 0.19 0.09 ± 0.00 75.83 ± 0.60 834 ± 10 63.98 ± 0.11b
b,c,d a c ö
600 0.5 6.41 ± 0.64 0.00 ± 0.00 66.92 ± 0.03 2,542 ± 2 56.54 ± 1.59a
0.7 3.34 ± 0.39a 0.00 ± 0.00a 53.13 ± 0.46b 368 ± 1f 63.66 ± 1.61b
a a a e
1.0 3.19 ± 0.22 0.00 ± 0.00 50.15 ± 0.70 266 ± 9 55.98 ± 2.24a

The different letters on the columns indicate the significant difference between the formulations.

3.4 | Chemical properties of fig powder 4 | CONC LU SION

HMF—formed during Maillard reaction—is a function of the temperature
In the present study, fig powder was produced by FMD method. Initially,
of the process and storage period (Rattanathanalerk, Chiewchan, & Sri-
the optimum fig foam composition was determined as 52.9% of fig,
chumpoung, 2005). It can be used as a marker to determine the heat
28.9% of EW, 0.8% of CMC, and 17.4% of MD considering the FC and
treatment intensity and quality in many foods (Makawi et al., 2009).
stability. The fig foam was dried at optimum composition with hot air
High concentrations of HMF have irritating properties to the upper
and microwave to produce fig powder. At constant foam thickness,
respiratory tract, eye, skin, and mucous membranes in addition to certain
while total drying times decreased, the drying rates increased with an
toxicity reports. In EU countries, 40 mg/kg in honey and 20 mg/kg in
increase in the air temperature and microwave power. However, micro-
fruit juice are allowed (European Commission, 2002). However, there is
wave drying method was more efficient than hot air drying for fig foam
no specific limit to for many other food products. In this study, HMF of
in saving to the extent of drying time. The aw of the fig powder was
the FMD fig powder dried with hot air was found in the range of
dropped to safe level for microbiological activity after FMD. The particle
0.09–0.16 mg/g (db), while in microwave-dried samples, it was in the
and bulk properties of the fig powder were significantly affected by dry-
range of 0.00–0.12 mg/g (db) (Table 6). Table 5 shows the effect of
ing air temperature and microwave power in addition to the foam thick-
temperature/power and foam thickness on HMF content of fig powder.
As the foam thickness increased, HMF increased in both microwave and ness. The chemical properties of fig powder were evaluated by

hot air drying methods. Generally, degradation of sucrose at high tem- determining HMF and TPC. The higher foam thickness resulted in the

perature in sugar-rich foods is expected that forms HMF. Similar higher HMF content in case of both microwave and hot air dryings. The

increase in HMF has been reported by Roig, Bello, Rivera, and Kennedy phenolic content of fig powder obtained by hot air drying was higher

(1999) and Rada-Mendoza, Sanz, Olano, and Villamiel (2004) while than that of the microwave. This study concludes that the fig fruit can

working with citrus juice and fruit-based infant food storage. However, be successfully foam and dry to produce fig powder, which can be used

this unobservable situation in fig powder was interpreted to be due to in many food products such as beverages and confectioneries. It can

the foams’ thickness and drying times. also be used as an appropriate substitute for artificial additives.
The amount of TPC in the dried foam dried by hot air was higher
than those dried by microwave. According to ANOVA results, pheno-
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
lic content of FMD fig powder varied with foam thickness in the
microwave drying, that is, ranged from 3.19 to 8.46 mg/g, whereas The authors acknowledge Aydın Adnan Menderes University, Council

tray-dried samples showed from 7.45 to 10.67 mg/g. Branco et al. of Scientific Research Projects (Project Number: MF-17003) for finan-

(2016) found TPC in Uvaia powders dried by FMD in the range of cial support.
5.27–5.81 mg/g. Another study found appreciable amount of total
phenolics (1.6–1.7 mg/100 g) in seabuckthorn powder obtained with ORCID

FMD (Kaushal et al., 2013). Mehmet Koç https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7295-7640

12 of 13
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How to cite this article: Varhan E, Elmas F, Koç M. Foam mat
drying of fig fruit: Optimization of foam composition and phys-
icochemical properties of fig powder. J Food Process Eng.
2019;42:e13022. https://doi.org/10.1111/jfpe.13022