Comparison of the quality of dried persimmon (Diospyros kaki THUNB.) treated with medicinal plant extracts and food additives.

We evaluated the direct application of different extracts from plant-derived compounds at different ratios. The best effect was observed with the combination of 18.18% clove, 9.90% cinnamon, 9.09% licorice, 4.55% firmament, 4.55% grapefruit seed extract, and 54.54% apple cider vinegar. The combination of these compounds improved the moisture content of the fruit and showed antifungal, antibrowning, and antifungal/antibrowning effects as compared with the control following 6-week treatment. The treatment resulted in an increase in the overall sugar concentration of dried persimmons. Antibrowning/antifungal test showed high sugar content of 30-39 °brix. The hardness of the treatment groups was similar to that of the control and decreased by 0.5 to 0.8 after 6 weeks. The evaluation of color change revealed a decreasing tendency in the value of △E during the drying period. Thus, natural extracts effectively suppressed the quality degradation during drying of persimmon and may be used to replace sulfur fumigation.