Drying of Quince Slices: Effect of Pretreatments on Drying and Rehydration Characteristics

Abstract

The effect of pretreatments on drying characteristics of quince slices was investigated in a cabinet dryer. The experiments were conducted on quince slices with a thickness of 5 mm at 50°C, 57°C, 64°C, and 71°C with an air velocity of 2.0 m/s. Prior to drying, quince slices were pretreated with citric acid solution or blanched in hot water. Also, the untreated samples were dried as control. The shortest drying time was obtained with quince pretreated with citric acid solution. It was also observed that the rehydration ratio was higher in blanched slices than others. The drying data for the moisture ratio over time was fitted to three thin-layer models with the best performances coming from the Page model. The values of effective moisture diffusivity were found to range between 6.97 × 10−11 and 2.38 × 10−10 m2/s, with activation energy of 29.08–43.01 kJ/mol for quince slices.