ABSTRACT
The demand for improvement in quality of agricultural products and more economic processing operations has brought much attention to the replacement of conventional operations with a number of novel food processing and preservation methods and equipment. Combining infrared (IR) radiation and freeze-drying either simultaneously or sequentially are relatively new methods that have shown great potential for industrial application. Especially, sequential IR radiation and freeze-drying (SIRFD) have become the most popular of the emerging novel combinations. SIRFD is a two-step drying process of IR predehydration followed by freeze-drying. Traditionally, hot air or freeze-drying has been used in the food industry to dry fruits and vegetables.
