Physicochemical and Morphological Properties of European Cranberrybush Powder Manufactured by Freeze Drying

This study investigated the rehydration, water activity, pH, Brix, color, bulk density, tapped density, flowability, cohesiveness, wettability, solubility values, and microstructures of freeze-dried European cranberrybush powders. Additionally, experimental freeze-drying data were coupled to nine thin-layer models, and the logarithmic model was chosen to estimate the moisture ratio of European cranberrybush. The pH and Brix values were measured between 3.0-3.2 and 40.33-52.00 for different powder sizes, respectively. A significant difference was observed for the water activity values of different powders that were classified into different powder sizes (P < .05). Moreover, it was identified that all powders exhibited "low" cohesiveness and "fair" flowability. However, the results showed that the highest bulk density (0.440 g/ml), tapped density (0.563 g/ml), wettability (4386 s) and solubility (264 s) were obtained in the samples with a ">500 mu m" powder size. According to the all scanning electron microscopy images, skeletal-like structures formed on the surfaces.