Effect of Different Drying Methods on Red Beet (Beta vulgaris) Quality

The greeting interest of consumers to preserve their crops in order to beat food deficiency and attain food security was a target to investigate a way to maintain red beet so as to use all over the year. The influence of oven, sun and microwave drying methods on nutrional values, total phenol, vitamin C, color and rehydration ratio of red beet root were studied. All the drying methods under investigation decreasing moisture content with enhancing the nutrional contents and resulted in dried red beet with excellent color and rehydration ratio. Microwave drying treatment improve both total phenol and vitamin c contents where the sun drying treatment outcome dried beet samples with perfect total phenol content but with a shortage in vitamin c content. The oven drying treatment produced dried red beet with a sensible total phenol and vitamin c contents. Finally, it could use the drying methods under investigation in preserving red beet and obtain dried red beet which can be used in food preparation especially infant food, also it could be consumed as a substitute of traditional snacks.