Comparative Study of Microwave-Assisted Vacuum Evaporation, Microwave-Assisted Evaporation, and Conventional Evaporation Methods on Physicochemical Properties of Barberry Juice

This study was conducted to evaluate the efficiency of Microwave-Assisted Vacuum Evaporation (MAVE) and Microwave-Assisted Evaporation (MAE) techniques for production of barberry juice concentrate in comparison to the conventional evaporation techniques. The barberry juice was concentrated by two different methods (indirect heating and the microwave evaporation under pressures of 100 and 30 kPa) to reach 60 °Brix. The results showed that the evaporation rates of MAVE and MAE methods were, respectively, 48.86 and 48.27% higher than indirect heating. The minimum changes in color parameters of barberry juice concentrate (L*, a*, b*, ΔE) were observed for vacuum-microwave evaporation. In addition, applying this method could better preserve anthocyanin content, antioxidant activity, and total phenol content of barberry juice compared to the conventional method.