Studies on the rehydration of carrots

The effects of different anions and of solution pH on the degree of rehydration of dehydrated carrots were measured by changes in tissue volume. The carrots had significantly greater rehydrated volumes when rehydrated in distilled water than in any of the salt solutions while the carrots in salt solutions containing citrate3‐ had significantly lower rehydrated volumes than in the other salt solutions. This effect may be due to a steric hindrance to the penetration of the anions into the plant cells. In general, at pH values 2 and 12 the carrots rehydrated to a maximum extent. Probably the greater hydration in the solutions of extreme pH is due to their greater ability, in particular those with a pH of 12, to hydrolyse the hemicelluloses and the pectinates in the cell walls of the carrots.