Quality and Drying Kinetics of Moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam.) Seed Flour After Drying Process

Abstract

The moringa presents great nutritional value thanks to its bioactive compounds, providing many benefits to human health. Therefore, this plant has been studied with the aim of being used as a food fortifier. The objective of this work was to describe the technological process in the production of moringa seed flour at different temperatures through numerical and analytical solutions and assess its final chemical quality. Moringa pods were obtained in experimental area and were treated by removing their seeds. A drying process was performed at different temperatures (40, 50, 60 °C) with progressive weighing on a semi-analytical scale until constant weight which was obtained after 2 hours of drying. The flour was obtained with the use of a knife mill. Empirical models of Lewis, Herdenson and Pabis, Peleg and Page were used to describe the dehydration curve of moringa seeds. Protein, lipid, carbohydrate, ash and moisture contents were determined in the flours obtained at different temperatures. We verified that best fit model was Page’s, representing the best coefficients of determination and chi-squares. The Peleg model showed incoherent behavior, indicating that it is not ideal for simulating the drying process of moringa seeds at the studied temperatures. The temperature influenced the quality of the flour. The flour obtained at a temperature of 40 °C showed the best percentages of protein, ash, moisture and carbohydrates. For the lipid content, the best flour results was obtained at temperatures of 50 and 60 °C.