Drying of taro and sweet potatoes for the elaboration of flour for bread and pastries

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out in the Microbiology Laboratory of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences of the "Maximo Gómez Baez" University of Ciego de Avila. Taro cultivar (Colocasia esculenta L. Schott), INIVIT MC-2006, and the sweet potato cultivar (Ipomoea batata L. Lam), INIVIT B2-2005, were used with the aim of obtaining flour for the production of bread and pastries using methods sustainable drying. Taro and sweet potato slices were dried with two treatments, at temperatures of 60°C in the drying oven (stove) and up to 55°C in the solar dryer for 16 hours. Analysis of the dynamics of mass loss, sensory analysis and cost analysis were performed. In the case of taro, it was confirmed that regardless of the method used, there is a decrease in mass, reaching 75 % loss at 16 hours, while in sweet potatoes it is 66 % affects for both methods and species, the costs were lower in the solar dryer method.