Enhancing Solar Drying of Eggplant: A Low-Cost Innovation for Improved Efficiency, Quality, and Nutrition in Rural Area of Tunisia

Drying process allows water elimination from products which may enhance their conservation. Climate change led to an increase in temperature. This research focuses on solar drying of eggplant (Solanum melongena L.) slices. Before drying eggplant slices were subjected to salting pretreatment for a partial removal of water. Experimental drying was performed on March, 2024: drying kinetics were measured to plot the characteristic drying curve. Dried eggplant slices properties like proximate composition, rehydration capacity and textural attributes were determined. Salting pretreatment improved solar drying performance as it accelerated moisture content removal. A significant decrease in water activity aw from 0.978 to 0.554 and 0.534 for control sample and salted sample, respectively, was observed. Except ash content no significant difference was observed between dried and salted dried slices. Therefore, dry salting pre-treatment can shorten the total solar drying time.