OVEN MICROWAVE USE IN THE DETERMINATION OF MOISTURE CONTENT WATER CONTENT: CASSAVA, YAM AND PLANTAIN
GARCIA M., CARLOS; DUSSAN S., SAUL and GUTIERREZ G., NELSON. OVEN MICROWAVE USE IN THE DETERMINATION OF MOISTURE CONTENT WATER CONTENT: CASSAVA, YAM AND PLANTAIN. Rev.Bio.Agro [online]. 2012, vol.10, n.1, pp.60-66. ISSN 1692-3561.
In the characterization and processing of agricultural products, the moisture content is one of the main physical characteristics to be determined, however normally takes several hours for results. In this work two techniques were compared to determine the moisture content of cassava, yam and green plantain. The conventional technique AOAC 925.09 and AOAC No. 925.10 and the microwave oven technique were evaluated. Were used the powers of 140W, 280W and 560W in the microwave, 10g sample size and determined the product moisture content every minute until statistically equal to those found by the conventional method. We confirmed the real possibility of using microwave as a quick method for determination ofmoisture fromcassava, yams andgreen plantain using a power of 560W for 5 min exposure to cassava, 8 min for yam and 4 min for green bananas. The results showed no difference between the techniques used, suggesting the use of microwave oven for reasons related to the exposure time, efficiency and practicality in determining moisture content in agricultural products.
Keywords : Vegetables; Water; Method; Drying.