## 3 Results and Discussion  
### Proximate Composition of Kurut Samples  
Proximate composition of the _Kurut_ samples is given in Table 3. The concentration effect of drying was observed in dry matter (%), fat (%), salt (%) and ash (%) content of the samples when compared to the strained yogurt (Table 1). Interaction between the drying technique and drying temperature did not show statistically significant difference in proximate composition of the samples (based on \(p>0.05\)) (Table 3).  
Higher dry matter (%) values were obtained in KV35 and KV45 than K35 and K45. In VOD, technique samples (KV35 and KV45) reached a constant weight in a shorter time and with higher dry matter (%) than samples of the OD technique (K35 and K45) (Table 3). Additionally, the individual effect of means of drying techniques caused statistically significant difference in terms of dry matter (%) (Table 4). Vacuum use results in concentration of water vapor on the surface of the product [14] and this improves heat and mass transfer [48]. In that way, higher drying rates are achieved under vacuum conditions [15]. The drying time required for OD-applied _Kurut_ samples was longer than VOD-applied samples and could be related to the absence of additional force carrying water from the capillaries to the surface of the product in the OD technique. At the same time, longer drying times in OD can be a consequence and/or a reason of the formation of a crust layer on the product surface that creates an isolation and slows down or prevents evaporation. The protein content of the samples varied as 44.73 \(\pm\) 0.32, 44.85 \(\pm\) 0.47, 44.67 \(\pm\) 0.31 and 44.74 \(\pm\) 0.32 for samples K35, K45, KV35 and KV45, respectively (\(p>0.05\)).  
In Table 1, pH and LA% values for strained yogurt were found as 4.39 \(\pm\) 0.02 and 2.13 \(\pm\) 0.02, respectively. When compared with these values, drying resulted in the progress of acidity of the _Kurut_ samples but with no significant difference among the samples (\(p>0.05\)) (Table 3). However, this progress was higher in K35 and K45, observed with lower pH values and higher LA% values, than KV35 and KV45. Regardless of the temperature effect, the means of drying techniques (vacuum existence or not) caused a statistically significant difference on pH and LA% of the samples. The drying temperature was non-significantly effective on pH and LA% regardless of the drying technique (\(p>0.05\)) (Table 4).  
[PERSON] et al. [49] found the average pH and LA% of the experimental _Kurut_ samples as 4.29 \(\pm\) 0.04 and 2.49 \(\pm\) 0.26, respectively. [PERSON] et al. [32] observed thin-layer drying characteristics of _Kurut_ dried in the tray drier and reported 3.92 and 0.37% for pH and LA%, respectively. The dry matter (%) of tray dried _Kurut_ samples was reported as 84.25% by [PERSON] et al. [32], similar to samples K35 and K45. In VOD, thermal exposure is minimized under vacuum when compared with OD, so less progress of acidity was observed (Table 4). The initial pH and LA% of the raw material used are decisive on the same properties of the product [4]. For this reason, the situation in the _Kurut_ samples may be related to the physico-chemical properties of the raw material, strained yogurt processing applications and also the difference in drying conditions.