The objective of this research was to evaluate the physicochemical properties
and nutritional compositions of the foamed banana powders as affected by various
drying methods. The foaming process of banana purce was undertaken by using whey
protein concentrate (5%) as a foaming agent. After that, the banana foam was
dehydrated by various drying methods including hot air drying, vacuum drying and
freeze drying. Unfoamed banana purce dried by hot air drying was used as the control
treatment. All the foamed banana powders exhibited higher L* and b* and lower a*
values than that of the unfoamed one. Lower solubility and hygroscopicity were
observed in the unfoamed banana powder compared to all the foamed bananana
powders. All the foamed banana powders contained higher total phenolic content
(TPC), B-carotene, thiamine, riboflavin as well as ascorbic acid compared with the
unfoamed banana powder. Among the foamed banana powders, the freeze dried
powder had the lowest bulk and compaction densities while the solubility and
hydroscopicity were the highest. The highest nutrition components mentioned above
and antioxidant activities were found in the foamed banana powders dehydrated by freeze drying, followed by vacuum drying and hot air drying, respectively. Therefore,
the banana powder made by the foaming process and consequently subjected to freeze
drying was of a higher quality in terms of nutritional compositions as well as
antioxidant capacities.