Effect of Different Cleaning Treatments on the Color of Dried Apricot

The effects of different cleaning reagents, concentration, cleaning time and drying conditions on the difference in surface color of dried apricot were comprehensively analyzed by chromatometer to find out the main factors affecting the color change of dried apricot and screen the best cleaning and drying technology. The results showed that both citric acid and ascorbic acid treatment could reduce the browning degree of dried apricot and improve the appearance color quality of dried apricot to a certain extent. The best technology conditions of ascorbic acid treatment were as followed: ascorbic acid concentration 20 g/L, washing time 30 min, dring temperature 40 ℃, and drying time 30 minutes. The optimal conditions of citric acid treatment were: citric acid concentration 20 g/L, cleaning time 10 min, drying tempearture 40 ℃, and drying time 30 min. While for the mixed cleaning group（the ratio 1∶1） of citric acid（20 g/L） and ascorbic acid（20 g/L）, the color quality of dried apricots could still be better maintained at higher temperature.