Assessment of Quality Attributes and Steviosides of Stevia rebaudiana Leaves Subjected to Different Drying Methods

Roberto A. Lemus-Mondaca^1, , Antonio Vega-Gálvez², Pilar Rojas² and Kong Ah-Hen³

¹Food Engineering Department, Universidad de La Serena, Av. Raúl Bitrán Nachary 1305, Box 599, La Serena, Chile

²Department of Food Engineering, Universidad de La Serena, Chile

³Institute of Food Science and Technology, Universidad Austral de Chile, Chile

Cite this paper:
Roberto A. Lemus-Mondaca, Antonio Vega-Gálvez, Pilar Rojas and Kong Ah-Hen. Assessment of Quality Attributes and Steviosides of Stevia rebaudiana Leaves Subjected to Different Drying Methods. Journal of Food and Nutrition Research. 2016; 4(11):720-728. doi: 10.12691/jfnr-4-11-4

Abstract

Stevia is a plant of great scientific interest due to its high sweetening power and its health benefits giving birth many researches related to changes of this quality by applying a conservation process. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of different drying techniques (convection, vacuum, microwave, infrared, shade and freeze drying) on proximal analysis, vitamins C and E, fatty acid and amino acid profiles and steviosides from Stevia leaves. Stevioside was the main sweetener found in fresh sample and showed significant increase in all treatments, although convective was the less aggressive treatment (7.45% DM) followed by vacuum (7.02% DM). Stevia leaves may be used as a nutritional complement besides its sweetening power.

Keywords:
Stevia leaves drying treatments color aminoacids antioxidant natural sweeteners

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