Introduction

In this unit, weve studied about water in various types of food and how it plays such a big roles
in almost all foods. Water in food can be categorised in three different types which consist of bulk
water, trapped water and bound water. For the first form, bulk water, which is also known as free
water, is the term used for the water molecules that surrounded only by other water molecules. What
this means is that the water molecules can be taken out easily from food. As for the second type,
trapped or capillary water can be describe as water that is held within a small space, surrounding by
some type of physical barriers, for example food components, due to capillary forces. In other words, it
is difficult to escaped those water molecules because of the barriers blocking its way. The final type of
water in food is the hardest type to removed out since the water is either physically or chemically
bound, we called this bound water. As for physically, water may not be completely surrounded by other
water molecules but instead it is in expose with other food constituents such as proteins or
carbohydrates. However, if the water molecules is bonded chemically with other water molecules, it is
also hard to removed, since it has strong bonds between them. All these type of water in food can be
named simply as moisture content of food. This basically means, the amount of water per unit mass
of moist, or wet sample. For every food we consume in everyday life contains different amount of
moisture. In fact, it is real essential to know the moisture content because it will influence other
processes in the food industry, including packaging and storing techniques. The moisture content can
be simply calculated into percent by taking the mass of water divided by the mass of wet basis and
finally times it by 100. This can be shorten into the following formula.

mass of moisture
Moisture Content =
100%
total mass
In order to have a better understanding towards moisture content of food and how water is one
of the most important component in every food, experimenting on fruit dehydration is a great example.
Since there are many advantages in food dehydration including less weight, preservation and to
created new flavour, another purpose of this experiment is to clarify these advantages points as well,
by observing it on texture, appearance and taste, after it has been dehydrated. Also, we will get a
chance to calculate the moisture content in the fruits weve chosen and since each groups picked out
different fruits to try, it will be a great opportunity to compare the results together and see which one
has the highest percentage of free water. Throughout the whole process of the experiment should
related back to this water in food unit.

PROCEDURES
Procedure (Day 1)
1. Obtain your fruit sample
2. Cut your fruit sample into equal pieces, at least one piece for each group
member. Each member must cut their own piece. You may cut a few extra pieces at
a different thickness to test how size effects dehydration.
3. Draw a picture of your sample. Measure your samples thickness in cm. with a
ruler.
4. Each group member must mass their sample (in grams) of fruit.
4.1. mass the paper 4.2. mass the fruit only 4.3. mass the paper with fruit
5. Record the mass in your data table.
6. Place each sample of fruit on a rack on the dehydrator. Make sure the fruit is
spaced evenly apart. Leave for 24 hours.

Procedure (Day 2)
1. Obtain your dehydrated sample from the dehydrator.
2. Mass your dehydrated sample in grams. Each member must mass their own.
3. Record the mass in your data table. Dont forget our units.
4. Draw a picture of your dehydrated sample, and describe its characteristics
compared to the original sample.
4.1. mass the paper 4.2. mass the fruit only 4.3. mass the paper with fruit
5. Calculate the percentage of moisture in the original sample.
6. Find the average moisture content percentage for your group and compare it to
other group

MATERIALS

Images
Kiwi slice on the wax paper after
dehydrating. All the details are more visible.

All the fruit slices in the dehydrator

which takes many hours to dry

DATA TABLE

Discussion
1. Why did the weight of the sample decrease? Explain.
The weight of the sample decrease because kiwi received the heat from the dehydrator. This means that,
the water in fruit (kiwi) will evaporate away and then the fruit is dry and loss weight by osmotic dehydration.
The reason kiwi removes water out, its related to the free water or bulk water. What this means is that
each water molecule is surround only by other water molecule and can be easily removed. Also part of the
weight decrease came from the loss of nutrients as well, which includes vitamin C and other minerals in the
kiwi slices.
2. Each group member should comment on the changes they observed from the wet to dry sample.
New: During the experiment, Ive observed the kiwi sample from both before and after dehydration. For
appearance when it was wet, the colour of the kiwi were lime greenish colour however after dehydrated,
the colour turned into more of a yellowish green. Moreover, after dehydrated, the seeds in the centre of the
kiwi were more visible, where every details can be recognised. The texture before dehydrated were of
course, moist, wet and damp. Also when touch, it was slippery and slimy at the surface as well. These were
completely opposite after dehydrated since the texture became more dry and chewy, where no slimy
texture were exposed. As for size, initially the kiwi slice was 5 cm in diameter and 2.5cm in radius, weighs
7.81 in grams, while the thickness was about 2mm. Whereas on the other hand, after dehydrated, the kiwi
slice was incredibly thin and lightweight, only 1.37 grams. Plus, the kiwi has slightly stuck to the wax paper
and the overall shape has curled up as well. Lastly, as for the smell and taste, clearly the dehydrated one
were much more sour and tart.
Lukkaew: The first observation that Ive observed from the Kiwi is the colour has been changed.Before
dehydrated kiwi has a lime green colour(bright green colour) but after it has been dehydrated the colour
has been changed into greenish and yellow.Moreover,the moisture.Kiwi is the fruits that contain moisture
about the average of 83.47%,means it contains lots of moisture.Before dehydrated kiwi contains lots of
moisture but after the dehydrated kiwi contains less of moisture(due to the loses of water during the
dehydrating process).Slippery and slimy before the dehydrated kiwi is probably slippery and slimy but after
the dehydrated kiwi will become dry and rough.Furthermore,the shape of kiwi has changed to become
thinner and to be more curve.
Cream: When the kiwi before dehydrated it was lime green colour, moist, damp, good smell and thick after
it was dehydrated it was yellow green colour, dryer, thinner and shrink. The reason that kiwi change the
colour, size, smell and texture because water in kiwi is lost by dehydrator.

3. Do you think your sample needed more time to dry? Why or why not?
We think that our sample do not need more time to dry. According to the result of the kiwi and our
observation, we think that the kiwi is not too slimy and slippery as before. After dehydration, we had
calculated the moisture content of the kiwi of each member in the group which have average about 83.47
percent. This can be prove that there is reasonable amount of water has been lost during the dehydration
process, meaning the sample do not required more time to dry.

4. How did the average moisture content of the other fruit samples compare to your group?
In the class, we have altogether 6 different groups, each doing different fruits, which consists of mango, Chinese
pear, banana, avocado, dragonfruit and including ours, kiwis. After dehydrated, weve gather the average moisture
content results together. Itve shown that the fruit that contains the most water content is Chinese pear, which the
moisture content went up to 83.64%, which follow closely by our group, the kiwis, 83.47%. After that, other fruits
contains smaller amount of water when comparing to kiwis. The next runner-up for the most amount of water would
be dragon fruit which contains 81.99%, then mango 81.30%, banana 71.64% and lastly avocado 70.87%. This
concludes that in our class, the fruit with the most amount of moisture content is the Chinese pear, whereas the fruit
with the least amount of moisture content is the avocado.

5. Why did some samples dehydrate more efficiently than others? (For within your group and also
between different groups)
The reason why some samples of dehydrate fruits has dry more efficiently than others is because there
are different amount of moisture content in each type of fruits. For instance,the fruits that contain high
amount of free water content(kiwi and Chinese pear) will dehydrated more than the fruits that have less
amount of water content. Moreover,the texture of the fruits is different meaning that there are difference
kind of physical barriers which prevent the water molecules from escaping easily. Also some water
molecules in fruit are in touch with the food components which is difficult for the water molecules to get
away.

6. Research advantages and disadvantages to dehydrated food products and explain. Include APA
citations.
ADVANTAGES
The advantages of dehydrated food products are
Dehydrated food increased amount of product per container. As in the dehydration process,water is move
out, so the food will be shrink means it gets smaller and thinner in size.When dehydrated food is store in a
container,it can be able to store more amount of the dehydrated food products and takes up less space.
The dehydrated food product can be stored longer. It can be stored up to 1 year if it was well
preserved.The reason is because it takes up less space,dry and have less moisture.

DISADVANTAGES
Dehydrated foods usually get higher in calories,sugar and also salt. Moreover, dehydrated foods have higher
in calories because dehydrated foods may contain more sugar to add flavour to the foods,since the water
has such great impact on the taste, making sugar is needed to enhance the flavour.Sugar adds the extra
calories into foods and it doesnt give any essential nutrients.Dehydrated food be high sodium because salt
is the main common preservative used by the dehydrated food.High sodium can lead to many disease such
as heart disease. Not only extra flavouring are added but there will be some nutrients loss as well.
Benefits and Tips for dehydrating food. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://www.diynatural.com/dehydrating-food/
Pennington, Fess. How to dehydrate foods for long term storage (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://readynutrition.com/resources/dehydrate-foods-for-long-term-storage_31032010/
Bruso, Jessica. (2015,October,30). Advantages & Disadvantages of freeze dried food. Retrieved from
http://www.livestrong.com/article/509074-advantages-disadvantages-of-freeze-dried-food/

CONCLUSION
For the conclusion,the result of this experiment turns out very well and no failure are discovered. We
have learned that each fruits contain different amount of the moisture content and this will affect
on how the fruits dehydrated. What this means is that, the fruits that contains more amount of water
content will dehydrate more than the fruits that contain less amount of water content. In our daily
life there are many dehydrated food and this is because there are many advantages for dehydrating
including dehydrated food will last longer, it can prevents bacterial growth, creates new flavour,
increased amount of product per container and also weigh less. Water has such great impact
towards food because after we dehydrated the food, there are many major changes including the
appearance, taste, texture and smell.In the future If we ever have a chance to do this experiment
again, we would like to explore the kiwi slice by cutting at difference thickness to analysed how this
affects the dehydration time. Furthermore, by changing the quality of the fruit, for example branding,
may affects on the outcome of the fruits after the dehydration as well, for instance, it may change
the appearance,size and texture. Also,it would be a great opportunity if we can use other fruits to
dehydrated in order to see the amount of the time it takes to be completely dry so we can compare
to the fruit(kiwi) that we did in this time, as well as to expand on our knowledge. Nonetheless, as an
overall image, we all agree that this experiment on dehydration, in order to test for the moisture
content of food, was an incredible experiences and everything turns out impressively well.

Group Log
NEW : - Introduction
- Discussion (number 2,4)
- Data Table
- Images and Captions

CREAM : - Material
- Flow charts
- Group lock
- Discussion (number 1,2,3)
LUKKAEW : - Discussion (number 2,5,6+Bibliography)
- Conclusion