Recent Developments in Microwave-Assisted Drying of Vegetables, Fruits, and Aquatic Products—Drying Kinetics and Quality Considerations

This article provides a capsule summary of very recent R&D carried out in the Food Sciences Key Laboratory of Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China. It focuses on a comparative experimental evaluation of diverse drying techniques ranging from traditional hot air drying, vacuum drying, and freeze drying to microwave vacuum drying and microwave freeze drying of fruits, vegetables, and aquatic products. More recently studies were also made on drying of extruded restructured chips of mixed composition, that is, potato blended with apple, which could be a novel snack food of the future. Drying kinetics as well as various key quality parameters, for example, color, texture, nutritional value, crispness, etc., were measured along with close examination of the microstructure that develops differently under different drying conditions. The potential value of microwave assistance in drying of foods in industrial scale applications is explored.