Processing of Enriched Pear Slices with Blueberry Juice: Phenolics, Antioxidant, and Color Characteristics.

This study evaluated the effectiveness of phenolic compound incorporation from blueberry juice into pear slices (PS) using a combination of ohmic heating (OH) and vacuum impregnation (VI), followed by air-drying (AD) or freeze-drying (FD). Our results showed that OH increased the content of bioactive compounds and antioxidant capacity of blueberry juice, with the optimal OH condition set at 50 °C for 20 min under an electric field of 13 V·cm. Furthermore, the combination of VI and OH was efficient in enriching PS with bioactive compounds from blueberry juice (such as cyanidin and epigallocatechin), with the optimal VI/OH condition set at 50 °C for 90 min under an electric field of 7.8 V·cm. Moreover, anthocyanin pigments from blueberry juice affected the color parameters of PS by increasing the parameter and decreasing the and parameters. However, both FD and AD (at 40, 50, and 60 °C) negatively affected ( ≤ 0.05) the phenolic content and antioxidant capacity. Notably, AD at 60 °C showed the highest levels of phenolic compounds and antioxidant potential for both impregnated and non-impregnated PS.