Abstract:
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different levels of osmotic pretreatments prior to drying and different drying methods on nutritional quality of dried
mushroom slices. The experiment consisted of sun, solar, and oven drying after dipping the slices in salt solutions of 5 and 10% concentrations for 50 minutes, the control being untreated mushroom sample. Significant differences in proximate
composition were observed between the fresh and dried mushroom samples. The average mean value of crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, ash, and carbohydrates of
the fresh mushroom samples were 28.85, 2.47, 12.87, 9.76 and 48.16% as compared
to 25.91, 2.18, 10.41, 10.91 and 42.14% for dried samples. Oven drying resulted in
higher content of ash (11.06%) and carbohydrates (43.64%) and lower contents of
crude protein (24.99%), crude fat (2.12%), and crude fiber (10.21%). The osmotic pretreatments significantly affected the composition of the dried mushroom samples. As
salt concentration increased from 0 to 5 and 10%, the protein content reduced from
26.78 to 25.99 and 24. 95%, the fat reduced from 2.42 to 2.19 and 1.94, and fiber
from 12.82 to 9.41 and 9.01%, respectively. Contrarily, the ash increased from 9.75 to
12.20%, and the carbohydrate from 38.16 to 43.08 and 45.18%, respectively.
