PRESERVATION OF FRUIT AND BERRY RAW MATERIALS WITH USAGE OF LOW TEMPERATURES AND CRYOPROTECTION METHODS

Abstract

The WHO experts recommend consuming vitaminaceous berries (blueberries, black currant, chokeberries, blackberries, whortleberries etc.) to strengthen the immune system and enhance the adaptive possibilities of the body. To annually provide the Ukrainian population with berry products, it is necessary to develop the new and improve the existent preservation technologies that would help obtain the target products with minimal losses of the valuable biologically active components even during long-term storage. The research trend of this work is undoubtedly topical, since the modern freezing technologies are unable to reach the aim declared. Even though quick-frozen, the significant amount of raw material cells get destroyed, along with the losses of cellular juice with biologically active components dissolved in it, and the sensory indices grow essentially worse. Therefore, the objectives of this article are to prove experimentally the expedience of using the cryoprotection methods in freezing the cultivated and wild berries in order to avoid the ruining effect of extra and intracellular ice crystals on raw material cells. The blackberries, black currants and raspberries, together with ten specimens of mono and combined cryoprotectors, were chosen as the objects of research. The experimentally stated fact of vitamin C loss minimization (due to cryoprotection during freezing, storage and defrosting of berries) is the main result of this research. The further studies would be aimed at the expansion of the plant objects range, including vegetables, the increase of a number of effective cryoprotectors to use in food industry, and the examination of their impact on formation of fine crystal ice that would not appear to be aggressive towards plant material structures, in order to influence this process purposefully.