MAHIDOL UNIVERSITY INTERNATIONAL DEMOSTRATION SCHOOL

MOISTURE CONTENT OF FRUIT

LAB REPORT
14-15 JANUARY 2016

1004

NAKREETIPE SUDHISANRONAKORN -TANOYPHU-FAH NONTAMONGKOLTORN -FAHTHAMOMPHAN NONTAPATAMADUL -BAIFERN-

Introduction
Our body needs water to function organisms and keep the body
alive. We can get water to our body from many resources. One of the
major resource of water is water from food. Every food contains water,
but not all food contain the same type of water.
First type of water is bulk water or free water. This type of water
is that water molecules surrounding by other molecules. Bulk water is
removed easily. For example, orange and lime. Second type of water is
capillary water or tapped water. It is type of water that water
molecules are held by capillary force in a small tube. Water molecules is
surrounded by a physical barrier. This type of water is not easily
removed like the first type of water. For example, broccoli. The last
type of water is bound water. Bound water is a type of water in food
that is not surrounded by water molecules but attach to nutrient such
as protein. This type of water is stronger and water is not easily
removed because of physical and chemical bond. To conclude all of the
food have moist. Moisture is a small amount of liquid that makes
something wet or moist. And moisture content is the amount of water
per unit mass of wet or moist. Here is a formula to find moisture
contained in a certain food MCw = MH/Mw. In this formula MCw
stands for Moisture content of wet basis. MH stands for mass of water
in gram. To find Mass of water, you need to know mass of food before
you dry it and mass of food after you dry it. Then, you subtract those
two number together by subtracting mass of dried food from mass of
initial food. Mw is total mass of wet or moist. For the percentage you
have to multiply your result by 100. To remove water out of food we
call it dehydration"
The process of dehydration can be done is many different ways. For
examples, dehydrator machine, oven drying, and sun drying. The
advantages of dehydrated food are first, dehydrated food can be keep
for a long time. It is also convenient because of its light weight and
amount of product per container. And you can even get new flavours
after
they had been dried. However, dehydrated food also has disadvantages.
It has more calories that fresh foods because it contain a lot of sugar

and salt. If you eat higher amount of dehydrated food, you might gain
your weight. Moreover, it also waste your time and may cause a lot of
money to dehydrate food in some methods.
In this experiment we use dehydrator to dehydrate fruit. Dehydrator
uses a heat source and air flow to reduce the water content of foods.
Our group use mango as a sample. We research that mango need
around 12 hours to be dried. Then went to the lab, put our mango to
the dehydrator and waited for the result in the other day. The purpose
of this lab is to demonstrate how to remove water out of food and to
understand moisture content of fruit that can be removed. For example
by blowing a hot wind. Furthermore, to show the result when fruit has
no water left anymore. How it change and what remains after all the
water is removed.

OVEN DRYING

SUN DRYING

DEHYDRATOR

MICROWAVE DRYING

MATERIALS
DEHYDRATOR

WAX PAPER

PERMANANT PEN

MANGO

KNIFE

CUTTING BOARD
ELECTRONIC BALANCE

PROCEDURE
Day 1

1. Decided what fruit you are going to use as a sample (we choose
mango)
2. Cut mango into small equal pieces (one piece for each member in
your group)
3. Observe characteristic of the sample
4. Place the sample on the wax paper
5. Place the wax paper without the mango on the electronic balance
6. Place the wax paper on the electronic balance again. This time rezero the balance
7. Put the mango on the wax paper that on the electronic balance
8. Record the mass in a data table
9. Place each sample on a rack on the dehydrator
10. Leave for 24 hours

Day 2
1. Pick your fruit from the dehydrator
2. Observe how the fruit changed after dehydrate
3. Mass the wax paper without the fruit
4. Mass the wax paper again but, this time re-zero the balance
5. Mass the mango with the wax paper on the electronic balance
6. Record the mass in a data table
7. Calculate the average of moisture content percentage of the sample.
By using this formula, MCw = M initial - M dried X 100
M initial

DATA TABLE

Name of Group
Member

Mass of sample before

dehydration (g)

Mass of sample after

dehydration (g)

Moisture Content %

Fah

2.80g

0.52g

81.43%

Baifern

2.97g

0.56g

81.14%

Tanoy

3.32g

0.62g

81.33%

Average Moisture Content (%) = 81.30%

How to find Moisture Content? (example)

The formula is:
MCw =

M initial - M dried X 100

M initial

MCw =

2.80 - 0.52 X 100

2.80

MCw =

2.28

X 100
2.80

MCw =

81.43%

DISCUSSION
1.Why did the weight of the sample decrease? Explain.
Before fruit is dehydrated, it contains a lot of water. But after it was
dried, all of the water were released from the fruit. So, it do not have
water left anymore. The size of fruit is smaller. The substance of the
sample is stick together more than it used to be. Because, there are no
more water molecules left anymore. Water take up a lot of space per
one piece of fruit, when it dried, its weight decrease.
2. Each group member should comment on the changes they observed
from the wet to dry sample.
Our mangoes before dehydration looked wet in texture. They were
soft in touch and their colour were bright yellow. After we dried them,
they were smaller, lighter and their colour were a bit darker.
3. Do you think your sample needed more time to dry? Why or why
not?
No, my sample has enough time to dehydrate already. Because after it
is dehydrated, its dry and does not seem juicy anymore. Its look
perfectly fine already. That means water molecules were completely
move out of our samples.
4. How did the average moisture content of the other fruit samples
compare to your group?
Mango(our group) = 81.30%
Kiwi = 83.47%
Avocado = 70.87%
Chinese pear = 83.64%
Banana = 71.64%
Dragon fruit = 81.99%
Our moisture content was forth place after chinese pear, kiwi and
dragon fruit. Therefore, our sample contain average water refer to all
the groups.

5. Why did some samples dehydrate more efficiently than others? (For
within your group and also between different groups)
Because of moisture content in each samples. The more water inside
the fruit, the more efficient to dehydrate it will be. If a fruit has less
moisture content, so it will dehydrate more efficiently. And easily to
dry. For our group, mango has moisture content 81.30%, so it is more
efficiently than Chinese pear(83.64%), Kiwi(83.47%), Dragon fruit(81.99%)
but less efficiently than Avocado(70.87%), Banana(71.64%).

6. Research advantages and disadvantages to dehydrated food products

and explain. Include APA citations.
Advantages of dehydration fruit dehydration are, dehydrated food is
weight lower than fresh food because of it is processed until all the
water is removed. So, it dry and easy to carry along. It is convenient
and it can keep in the long year unlike fresh food. It also can be
packed in a large amount per one container. However, dehydrated food
also has disadvantages. The first disadvantage of dehydrated fruit is,
dehydrated fruit may cause you a diarrheas because it is high in fiber.
It is also sweet and high in calories that be swing your blood sugar and
cause your to gain your weight. Sweetness in dehydrated food also
harmful to your teeth because it is stick to your teeth. Saltines from
some method of dehydrated food is also the disadvantage. It can lead
you to hypertension and coronary heart disease such as dried salami.
APA citation = Layton, P. (2010, November 22). The Advantages Of
Storing Dehydrated Foods. Retrieved January 19, 2016, from http://
personalliberty.com/the-advantages-of-storing-dehydrated-foods/
= Anne, M. (n.d.). The Disadvantages of Dried Fruit. Retrieved
January 19, 2016, from http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/disadvantagesdried-fruit-3227.html
= Stein, N. (2015, November 29). The Disadvantages of Dehydrated
Food. Retrieved January 19, 2016, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/
318585-the-disadvantages-of-dehydrated-food/

CONCLUSION
In conclusion, I have learned that dehydration of food causes less
weight of food because all of the water were released from the
samples. I also know that the samples dehydrate efficiently or not
depend on the moisture content of each samples because there are
many types of water in food that affect the moisture content of food.
Moreover, this lesson teaches me about how food dehydrate and how to
calculate the moisture content of food. For errors in this experiment,
before the experiment, our mango accidentally hit something on the way
to school, so one side of the mango is bruised and cannot be used.
Furthermore, our groups cut the mango in pieces too small. Therefore,
after dehydration, it was smaller and hard to share with other groups.
Next time, we will cut it bigger and be careful bringing the
experimental stuffs to school.

WORK LOG
COVER -Tanoy
INTRODUCTION -Tanoy
MATERIALS -Fah and Tanoy
PROCEDURE -Tanoy
DATA TABLE -Fah
DICUSSION
1.Baifern and Tanoy
2.Tanoy
3.Fah
4.Baifern
5.Baifern
6.Tanoy
CONCLUSION -Baifern