The effect of drying and long-term storage on colour and carotenoids content of giant pumpkin (Cucurbita maxima)

The objective of this study was to characterise the quality of giant pumpkin dried in different conditions as well as to determine the best combination(s) of drying conditions, based on colour and chemical composition of dried material. Samples of three pumpkin cultivars (Amazonka, Justynka- 957 and Ambar) were dried at five different temperatures (40°C, 50°C, 60°C, 70°C, 80°C) using three different drying methods (forced convection in tunnel dryer, natural convection in chamber dryer and hybrid drying which combined a tunnel drying and fluidized-bed drying). It has been shown that variability of samples resulted primarily from the redness, yellowness, lutein and β-carotene. Samples were scored based on the range of responses identified by factor analysis in order to find an optimal combination of cultivar, temperature and drying method. The three subsequent highest scores were obtained for samples of Ambar cultivar, dried using hybrid drying at 40, 60 and 80°C respectively.