Partial drying of apple fruits to improve freeze/thaw quality during long term frozen storage

Apple samples were submitted to partially drying prior to freezing. Then, quality assessments were achieved in order to evaluate the quality of these various frozen samples during frozen-storage. Significant positive effects of water content were observed on thaw exudate water and total color difference of dehydrofrozen/thawed apples. Total polyphenol content and total flavonoid content losses were important for samples without any dehydration pretreatment. They noticeably decreased when water content decreased during the whole period of storage. Thus, a partial removal of water prior to freezing is a relevant way to maintain the stability of fruit quality during long-term frozen-storage. Keywords: Apple fruits; dehydrofreezing; frozen storage; color; polyphenol