RESUMO
This research comparatively investigates different mangosteen pericarp processing schemes. The experimental pericarp processing schemes were hot air drying (HAD; control), quick freezing/HAD (QF + HAD), slow freezing/HAD (SF + HAD), and slow freezing/freeze-drying (SF + FD). For freezing, the QF temperature was -38 °C for 2 h and that of SF was -25 °C for 2 weeks. For drying, the HAD temperature was 60 °C for 7 h. In the FD process, the primary and secondary temperatures were -20 °C and 50 °C for 48 h. The experimental results showed that the freezing method (i.e., QF and SF) affected the physical properties (moisture content, water activity, and color) of dried mangosteen pericarp. The antioxidant activities (DPPH and ABTS) of the SF + HAD scheme (28.20 and 26.86 mg Trolox/g DW of mangosteen pericarp) were lower than the SF + FD scheme (40.68 and 41.20 mg Trolox/g DW of mangosteen pericarp). The α-mangostin contents were 82.3 and 78.9 mg/g DW of mangosteen pericarp for FD and HAD, respectively; and the corresponding TPC were 1065.57 and 783.24 mg GAE/g DW of mangosteen pericarp. The results of this study suggest that the drying process had a negligible effect on bioactive compounds. Essentially, the SF + HAD technology is the most operationally and economically viable scheme to process mangosteen pericarp.