Quality microwave drying

Microwave drying was combined with spouted bed fluidization technique (MWSB) for the drying of frozen blueberries [42]. MWSB drying was characterized by a substantial reduction in drying time and an improved product quality compared to freeze-, tray-, and SB-dried samples. 

Rapid methods Many more rapid techniques are used to monitor moisture content for quality control purposes. These include rapid infrared (IR) drying, microwave drying, and electrical methods. For both the IR and microwave methods, equipment is available with built-in balances, digital displays and microcomputers to calculate moisture content. 

Tulasidas, T. N., Raghavan, G. S. V., Mujumdar, A. S., 1995. Microwave drying of grapes in a single mode cavity at 2450 MHz, Part 2 Quality and energy aspects. Drying Technol. 13(8-9) 1949-1971. 

Wang, J., Xi, Y. S., 2005. Drying characteristics and drying quality of carrot using a two-stage microwave process. J. Food Eng. 68(4) 505-511. 

Arikan, M. F., Ayhan, Z., Soysal, Y., Esturk, O., 2012. Drying characteristics and quality parameters of microwave-dried grated carrots. Food Bioprocess Technol. 5 ... 

Microwave drying characteristics of potato and the effect of different microwave powers on the dried quality of potato. Eur. Food Res. Technol. 219 500-506. 

In general, the quality of microwave dried food products is somewhere between air-dried and freeze-dried products. The reduction of drying times can be quite beneficial for the color and the aroma. Venkatesh and Raghavan (2004) dried rosemary in a household microwave oven with good aroma retention while Krokida and Ma-roulls (1999) measured color and porosity of microwave-dried apples, bananas, and carrots. Khraisheh et al. (2004) compared air-dried and microwave dried potatoes and found a reduction of shrinkage and improved rehydration for the latter. 

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