Quantification of Cavity Degree in Japanese Persimmon for Dehydration Processing

Abstract

As a factor of dehydration suitability for processing of Japanese persimmon fruits, cavity degree was used in the present study. The surface layer of the furit was removed along concentric circles by an electric peeler. Some chemical components related to dehydration processing of persimmon fruits were measured at some different layers of the edible portion. Center parts of the flesh contained less total sugar, ascorbic acid and soluble tannin, more total pectin and water soluble pectin than the surface layers. The yield of flesh was concerned deeply with depth of fruit cavity, and the following three methods were used to measure depth: the curvi-meter method that is the ratio of a complete circle to circumference obtained a digital curvi-meter, a caliper method, the ratio of minimum diameter to maximum obtained by a caliper and the depth gauge method, direct depth obtained by a depth gauge.
The caliper method was most suitable for cavity depth determination, since the value obtained agreed well with the degree of cavity depth observed visually and poor yield of peeled fruit. The center part (equatorial part) as measuring part of cavity depth was the most excellent. The values obtained by the caliper method were used as depth coefficient.