ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: Effects of hot air spouted drying (HASD), microwave-assisted spouted drying (MWSD) and combined microwave-hot air spouted bed drying (MWHASD) on drying kinetics, color, rehydration, vitamin C, and drying energy consumption of carrot cubes was studied. The drying time of HASD was the longest, followed by MWSD and MWHASD. Rehydration of carrot for MWSD and MWHASD (Power 600-900 W) was higher than that of HASD. The vitamin C content of carrot cubes dried by MWSD, MWHASD and HASD had no significant difference with each other. The energy consumption of both MWSD and MWHASD was less than that of HASD. The energy consumption of between MWSD and MWHASD (Power 600-900 W) was not significantly different. The results showed that MWHASD drying method can improve the quality of dried products and save the drying time and reduce the energy consumption.
