Nowicka_2025_Sci.Rep_15_2623

Drying plant raw materials using modern techniques or combined methods is currently one of the main trends in food technology, which combines process optimization in line with the principles of sustainable development while maintaining high product quality. Therefore, this study aims to be innovative, assessing the possibility of using sublimation techniques, convective drying (CD) at different temperatures (50 degreesC, 60 degreesC, 70 degreesC), vaccum microwave drying (VMD) at different power levels (120 W, 240 W, 360 W, and 360/120 W), and combining these two techniques- CD-VMD (50 degreesC/120 W, 60 degreesC/120 W, 70 degreesC/120 W) in the production of peach snacks. The qualitative analysis of the tested dried peaches showed that the content of polyphenols was dominated by polymers of procyanidins (82.5%), followed by phenolic acids (10.6%) > > flavanols (monomers and dimers 4.6%) > > flavonols (1.3%) and anthocyanins (1.0%). The VMD was found to be the most effective method for shaping the final concentration of bioactive compounds. In this process, the final polyphenol concentration was influenced by the total duration of the process and the temperature of the dried material. Moreover, based on the results it can be concluded that dried peaches demonstrate strong antioxidant properties and act as more potent inhibitors of pancreatic lipase and cholinesterases (both AChE and BuChE).