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The goal of the current study was to determine the mineral content of different fruit varieties (Na, K, Ca, P, Mg, Fe, Zn, and Cu), as well as the effects of various processing methods (such as canning, drying, stewing, syrup process, and concentration of juices). All tested fruits that were subjected to various types of processing were exposed to a degree of mineral loss, varying from very little to high reduction. However, it still retains its nutritional value. All fig products have the greatest levels of most tested minerals, compared to other processed fruit products, particularly P and Fe. In turn, orange products supply higher quantities of Ca. On the other hand, apricot products have a comparable value of other minerals with those found in fig and orange products. Among canned juices, guava had the highest contents of Ca, P, and Fe, while mango scored the first juice as Mg and Zn supplying. Canned apricot halves contain the best amounts of K, Ca, P and Mg than the same products of apple and peach. Among jam products, fig jam has higher amounts of Na, Ca, P, Mg, and Fe than those found in other fruit jams. The concentration of fruit juices by vacuum-heating or dehydration of fruit produced higher mineral retentions than the fruit products that were processed by other techniques. The concentrated orange juice by vacuum-heating processing retained most of the minerals found in raw juice, also dried apricot sheet retained higher minerals than those retained in dehydrated whole apricot. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apricots are a fragile fruit that rots quickly after harvest. Therefore, they have a short shelf-life. The purpose of this work is to determine the effect of coatings containing chitosan (CH) as well as its nanoparticles (CHNPs) as thin films on the quality and shelf-life of apricots stored at room (25 ± 3 °C) and cold (5 ± 1 °C) temperatures. The physical, chemical, and sensorial changes that occurred during storage were assessed, and the shelf-life was estimated. Transmission electron microscopy was used to examine the size and shape of the nanoparticle. The nanoparticles had a spherical shape with an average diameter of 16.4 nm. During the storage of the apricots, those treated with CHNPs showed an obvious decrease in weight loss, decay percent, total soluble solids, and lipid peroxidation, whereas total acidity, ascorbic acid, and carotenoid content were higher than those in the fruits treated with CH and the untreated fruits (control). The findings of the sensory evaluation revealed a significant difference in the overall acceptability scores between the samples treated with CHNPs and the other samples. Finally, it was found that CHNP coatings improved the qualitative features of the apricots and extended their shelf-life for up to 9 days at room temperature storage and for 30 days in cold storage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]