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Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 584–594

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Water absorption, texture, and color kinetics of air-dried

chestnuts during rehydration
R. Moreira *, F. Chenlo, L. Chaguri, C. Fernandes
Departamento de Enxeñarı́a Quı́mica, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, Rúa Lope Gómez de Marzoa s/n, E-15782 Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Received 2 October 2007; received in revised form 15 November 2007; accepted 17 November 2007
Available online 23 November 2007

Abstract

Rectangular prisms of chestnuts (dimensions 10  10  15 mm) previously dried at 65 °C were rehydrated at different moisture con-
tents (0.15, 0.24, 0.33, and 0.66 kg water/kg d.b.) by immersion in water during different periods of time (up to 180 min) and tempera-
tures (25, 45, 70, and 100 °C). Rehydration kinetics were monitored by measuring their weights at regular intervals and were
characterized using several rehydration indexes such as dry basis holding capacity (DHC), water absorption capacity (WAC), and rehy-
dration ability (RA). Simultaneously, other properties that determine quality such as volume recovery, texture (by means of compression
tests), and color during rehydration were experimentally determined.
Peleg’s model was successfully applied to experimental data and the corresponding parameters were obtained and correlated with tem-
perature. Leaching flow was important only at high temperatures and dried samples at low moisture content gave satisfactory results for
rehydration indexes. Texture kinetics was satisfactorily described by means of second-order kinetic model and the corresponding constant
rate showed an Arrhenius relationship with temperature. Color was not recovered during rehydration. The results indicate that the use of
low temperatures is more than adequate for preserving this property. Globally, during rehydration, chestnut showed acceptable rehydra-
tion rates taking into account the low porosity of the product, but rehydrated samples were softer and darker than fresh samples. Low-
temperature rehydration and high initial moisture content of sample give better global properties for the rehydrated product.
Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Drying; Rehydration; Temperature; Stress; Peleg and second-order kinetic models

1. Introduction (49%), carbohydrates (46%; mainly starch and sugars like

European chestnut (Castanea sativa Miller) is a tradi-
tional food material in Mediterranean countries. Particu-
larly, the economy of some rural zones is based on its
production. Total production during 2005 was 190,000 t,
Italy (50,000 Tm) and Turkey (49,000 Tm) being the main
producers (FAO, 2006). The chestnut species are
characterized by their size, texture, and sweet taste. Manu-
factured products based on chestnuts show interesting
nutritional characteristics and can be also included in the
diet of celiac patients due to low gluten content. Water
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +34 981 563 100x16759; fax: +34 981 528
041.
E-mail address: eqmoncho@usc.es (R. Moreira).
sucrose and, in less proportion glucose and fructose), pro-
teins (3%), cellulose (1%) and minerals (1%) are the main
components (wet basis) in the fresh material (De la Mont-
aña et al., 2004; Scharz, 1990). As chestnuts are seasonal
fruits, preservation methods are necessary to preserve chest-
nuts over long periods of time.
Air-drying is the most widely employed method for pre-
serving food materials, which is based on reduction of the
water activity values through moisture removal to achieve
physicochemical and microbiological stability (Cao et al.,
2003; Krokida et al., 2003; Lewicki and Jakubczyk, 2004).
However, other processes, promoted by high temperatures,
can occur simultaneously with moisture removal during
drying, resulting in undesirable alterations of certain char-
acteristics of the material, such as shrinkage and color

0260-8774/$ - see front matter Ó 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2007.11.012
 R. Moreira et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 584–594
Nomenclature
a* redness-greenness coordinate (–)
b* yellowness-blueness coordinate (–)
DHC dry basis holding capacity (–)
E modulus of elasticity (Pa)
E* total colour (–)
Ea energy of activation (kJ/kmol)
K1 parameter of Peleg’s model Eq. (1) (s kg d.b./kg
water)
K2 parameter of Peleg’s model Eq. (1) (kg d.b./kg
water)
K3 parameter of Eq. (10) (s kg d.b./kg water)
K4 parameter of Eq. (11) (kg d.b./kg water)
K5 parameter of Eq. (11) (kg d.b./(kg water K))
K6 parameter of Eq. (13) (–)
K7 parameter of Eq. (13) (K)
KE parameter of Eq. (12) (Pa min)1
Kr parameter of Eq. (12) (Pa min)1
L length (m)
L* luminosity (–)
m weight (kg)
M dry basis (kg)
R universal gas constant (8.314 kJ/(kmol K))
RA rehydration ability (–)
changes (enzymatic and non-enzymatic browning) (Mas-
kan, 2001). During air-drying, spatial conformation of
components of food material can be partially altered by
water flux. In addition, there is a partial destruction of tis-
sue structure, which results in water permeability, conse-
quently rehydration ability can also decrease, and changes
in the texture (case hardening) (Krokida et al., 2000; Lew-
icki and Jakubczyk, 2004). Air-drying kinetics of whole
chestnuts have been determined and modelled under differ-
ent experimental conditions by several authors (Guiné and
Fernandes, 2006; Koyuncu et al., 2004; Moreira et al.,
2005). Textural changes of chestnuts during air-drying
had also been evaluated earlier (Moreira et al., 2007).
Most of the dried food materials must be rehydrated by
immersion in water until use. Rehydration is a complex
process in which adequate reconstitution of properties
occurs (Marabi et al., 2006). Three main processes take
place simultaneously during rehydration: the imbibition
of water into the dried material and the swelling and the
leaching of solubles (Lewicki, 1998a; McMinn and Magee,
1997). Several studies noted that volumetric changes corre-
spond to the quantity of water uptake (ideal swelling)
(Maskan, 2001). Rehydration characteristics are employed
as a parameter to determine quality because they are indic-
ative of the degree of alterations occurring during process-
ing (pre-treatments, drying, and rehydration) (Funebo and
Ohlsson, 1998; Lewicki, 1998b). In this context, texture is
an important characteristic in order to obtain the optimal
processing of the food material (Bourne, 2002). Textural
585
R2 coefficient of determination (–)
s soluble solids (kg s.s./kg d.b.)
S variable (r or E) of Eq. (12) (Pa)
t rehydration time (s, min)
T temperature (°C, K)
V volume (m3)
WAC water absorption capacity (–)
X moisture content (kg water/kg d.b.)
Greek symbols
D difference (–)
e relative strain (–)
q density (kg/m3)
r maximum stress (Pa)
Subscripts
eq equilibrium
f fresh (prior to drying)
H Hencky
Hep n-heptane
max maximum
w water
0 initial (prior to rehydration)
characteristics depend on temperature and time of pre-dry-
ing and rehydration processes (Krokida and Philippopou-
los, 2005; Marabi et al., 2006; Peleg, 1997). Recently,
several works have modelled texture kinetics during ther-
mal processing of potato following first-order kinetic
model (Nisha et al., 2006) or by considering two irrevers-
ible serial processes (Moyano et al., 2007).
Color characteristics are also important as quality attri-
butes for rehydrated samples and should closely resemble
the color characteristics of fresh food material to increase
acceptability. The determination of rehydration conditions
in order to minimize color changes during dehydration/
rehydration process has great importance from economic
viewpoint.
The aim of this study is to determine the experimental
rehydration kinetics of chestnuts as function of initial
moisture content and time and to evaluate the correspond-
ing rehydration coefficients and the parameters of the
model selected. Textural changes (by means of compression
tests) and swelling and color changes during rehydration
were the quality attributes that were determined.
2. Theory
2.1. Rehydration kinetics modelling
Although several mechanisms have been proposed to
describe rehydration process based on different mass trans-
ports such as diffusion and capillary flow, it is not clear
586 R. Moreira et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 584–594
which is the predominant mechanism (Saguy et al., 2005).
Among the various models thus far proposed, empirical
models are the most widely employed because of its math-
ematical simplicity and utility. Peleg (1988) proposed an
empirical model to describe the water absorption kinetics
during rehydration, which is given by:
t
X ¼ X0 þ
ðK 1 þ K 2 tÞ
where K1 is a kinetic parameter and K2 is another parame-
ter related to equilibrium moisture content, Xeq. When
t ? 1, equilibrium moisture content can be calculated by:
1
X eq ¼ X0 þ
K2
Eq. (1) can be linearized:
t Galicia (north-west of Spain) were stored at 4 °C until
¼ K 1 þ K 2t
ðX  X 0 Þ
allowing for the determination of K1 and K2 values by lin-
ear regression of experimental data.
This model has been successfully applied to different
products such as amaranth (Resio et al., 2006), apple (Bil-
bao-Sáinz et al., 2005), carrot (Planinic et al., 2005), chick-
pea (Gowen et al., 2006; Hung et al., 1993), lupine
(Solomon, 2007), pasta (Cunningham et al., 2007), mush-
room (Garcı́a-Pascual et al., 2005, 2006), rice (Yadav and
Jindal, 2007), and soybeans (Gowen et al., 2007) during
rehydration.
2.2. Rehydration indexes
During rehydration together with water acquisition, sol-
uble compounds can be leached. Some indexes were pro-
posed in order to estimate the rehydration characteristics
of dried material (Lewicki, 1998a). The water absorption
capacity (WAC) index estimates the ability of the matrix
to absorb water with respect to the water loss during dry-
ing, and usually varies in the range 0 6 WAC 6 1, and is
defined by:
MX  M 0 X 0
WAC ¼
M f X f  M 0X 0
The dry basis holding capacity (DHC) index is a measure-
ment of the ability of the material to retain soluble solids
during rehydration, to provide information on the extent
of tissue damage, varying in the range 0 6 DHC 6 1, and
is calculated by:
Ms
DHC ¼
M 0 s0
The rehydration ability (RA) index measures the ability
of the dried product to rehydrate and shows the damage
of the tissue caused due to drying and rehydration
processes. It is given by:
RA ¼ ðWACÞðDHCÞ
2.3. Texture
Textural characteristics are commonly evaluated by
compression tests by means of maximum stress, r; relative
strain or deformation, e; and modulus of elasticity, E
(Rosenthal, 1999). Hencky strain, eH, is commonly
employed in the case of compressions higher than 10%
ð1Þ (Peleg, 1984) and is defined by:
Z L   
dL L0
eH ¼ ¼ ln ð7Þ
L0 L L
3. Materials and methods
ð2Þ
3.1. Raw material
Chestnuts (Castanea sativa Mill., variety Famosa) from
ð3Þ
use. Initial moisture content was 55.4 ± 1.8% (wet basis).
Samples with rectangular prismatic geometry
(10  10  15 mm) were carefully obtained with a knife.
Around 1000 samples were dried up to four different mois-
ture contents and later rehydrated at four different temper-
atures for several times in order to determine rehydration
kinetics, rehydration indexes, color and textural
characteristics.
3.2. Air-drying experiments
Convective air-drying of chestnut samples was carried
out using a pilot-scale closed circuit drying plant (Vázquez
et al., 1997). Drying conditions were 65 °C of temperature,
30% of relative humidity, and 2.7 m s1 air velocity. Drying
kinetics under these experimental conditions was previ-
ously determined (Moreira et al., 2007). Fresh chestnuts
were weighed (balance Scaltec SBA 41 (±0.001 g)) and
after specified drying times: 0.5, 2, 3.5, and 5 h, samples
with different moisture contents: 0.66, 0.33, 0.24, and
0.15 kg water/kg d.b., respectively, were obtained. The
dry solids content was determined by employing control
samples using a vacuum oven (Heraeus Vacutherm
VT650) at <15 kPa and 70 °C until constant weight of
ð4Þ
the sample (AOAC, 1995) was attained.
3.3. Rehydration experiments
Twelve dried samples introduced in a plastic mesh bas-
ket were immersed during a pre-determined time into water
at different temperatures (25, 45, 70 and 100 °C, ±1 °C)
using screw-cap flasks with 300 mL of water. Four samples
ð5Þ
were identified separately in order to determine color, vol-
ume changes, and moisture content (the rest of the samples
were used in experiments on texture). Rehydration times
were 10, 30, 60, 120, and 180 min at 25 and 45 °C; and
2.5, 5, 10, 30, and 60 min at 70 and 100 °C. At these inter-
vals, samples were removed from liquid, carefully blotted
ð6Þ with tissue paper to remove superficial water, and weighed.
 R. Moreira et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 584–594 587

Finally, dry solids content was determined as described
above to determine leaching flow.
3.4. Experiments on texture
Tests on texture were carried out with freshly rehydrated
samples. Eight samples, with each sample corresponding to
a rehydration time, were subjected to uniaxial compression
in a universal testing machine (Hounsfield H-50KM), with
50 kN of capacity. Samples were placed in vertical position
and compressed at 10 mm/min. Data acquisition system
and installed software (Testwin) indicate the applied force
during each dimensional change. It was considered that
volume of the samples is constant during compression, cal-
culating the instantaneous transverse area through the
instantaneous strain of compressed sample (Moreira
et al., 2007; Rosenthal, 1999). Stress–Hencky strain curves
were obtained using the knowledge of geometry and size of
the employed samples. Maximum stress or hardness was
defined as the maximum peak force, and reported values
are averaged over the replicates tested.
4. Results and discussion
4.1. Rehydration kinetics
Figs. 1 and 2 show, as examples, experimental rehydra-
tion kinetics of chestnuts partially air-dried at 65 °C up to
0.66 and 0.15 kg of water/kg d.b., respectively, at different
temperatures. Rehydration kinetics shows an initial steep
increase in water absorption followed by a decrease in rehy-
dration rate. This asymptotic behaviour is related to the
decrease of driving force for water transfer as rehydration
progresses and the system is close to equilibrium. Rehydra-
tion temperature showed a marked effect on rehydration
rates and on amounts of absorbed water. Higher tempera-
tures result in an increase in both the magnitudes. Similar
behavior was observed by other authors who experimented
different food materials such as green pea, banana, carrot,
pumpkin, onion, mushroom, corn, potato, leek, garlic,
tomato, pepper, and amaranth grains (Krokida and Mari-
2.5

3.5. Determination of swelling 25 °C

45 °C
2.0
70 °C
Four samples, for each experimental condition tested,
X (kg water/kg d.b.)

100 °C
were used at the specified rehydration times to evaluate Eq. (1)
1.5
swelling of samples during rehydration and after dry solids
contents were determined. Swelling was determined by dis-
placement technique and samples were weighed at 20 °C in 1.0
air and in n-heptane liquid (qhep = 710 kg/m3), consecu-
tively. On the basis of Archimedes’ principle, volume of
sample, V, was calculated by: 0.5

m  mhep
V ¼ ð8Þ 0.0
qhep 0 50 100 150 200
t (min)
where m (kg) is the weight of chestnut in air and mhep (kg)
is the weight of the same sample immersed in n-heptane. Fig. 1. Rehydration kinetics at different temperatures of chestnuts pre-
dried at 65 °C up to 0.66 kg water/kg d.b.
3.6. Analysis of color
2.5
Color of chestnuts during rehydration was determined 25 °C
using Minolta CR400 colorimeter. The apparatus was pre- 45 °C
2.0
viously calibrated with standard white tile. Two samples 70 °C
X (kg water/kg d.b.)

100 °C
were employed for color determinations, and evaluation
Eq. (1)
of color was made at two different zones of the surface of 1.5
each sample before drying (color of fresh chestnut consid-
ered as reference) and after each rehydration time. Average
1.0
values from experimental data at each time were deter-
mined. Total color difference (DE*) was calculated at each
rehydration time with respect to fresh chestnuts, employing 0.5
CIELAB characteristic parameters L*, a*, and b* (CIE,
1986):
0.0
0 50 100 150 200
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
2 2 2
DE ¼ ðL  Lf Þ þ ða  af Þ þ ðb  bf Þ t (min)
qffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
¼ ðDL Þ2 þ ðDb Þ2 þ ðDa Þ2 ð9Þ Fig. 2. Rehydration kinetics at different temperatures of chestnuts pre-
dried at 65 °C up to 0.15 kg water/kg d.b.
588 R. Moreira et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 584–594

nos-Kouris, 2003; Krokida and Philippopoulos, 2005; each temperature and initial moisture content tested,
Planinic et al., 2005; Resio et al., 2006). At the highest tem- respectively. Values of coefficients of determination
perature tested, a considerable increase was observed in the (R2 > 0.97) indicate that the model proposed by Peleg is
rehydration rate, which can be due to the irreversible adequate (lines in Figs. 1 and 2) to describe rehydration
changes that take place in the starch granules as a result of kinetics of chestnuts over the range of experimental condi-
gelatinization process, which is corroborated by the turbid- tions tested. Values of K1 decrease with temperature at
ity observed in the liquid after rehydration. Similar behavior each initial moisture content. In this way, water transfer
was also observed during rehydration of rice (Bello et al., (related to the inverse of K1) is promoted by increase in
2007). In order to evaluate the water transfer during rehy- temperature. Similar behaviour was found by other
dration process, it is necessary to take into account the authors with regard to the rehydration of other products
leaching flows. Normally, these flows are neglected or con- (Garcı́a-Pascual et al., 2005; Maskan, 2002; Turhan
sidered constant during process. In this case, leaching flow et al., 2002). K2 values also decrease with temperature, indi-
was calculated by the analysis of the dry solid of the rehy- cating that water absorption capacity increases with tem-
drated samples with respect to the initial sample. The results perature. This capacity depends on the type of material,
indicated that the leaching flow is practically zero in samples structure of tissue, and chemical composition and can be
pre-dried at high moisture content (values higher than modified by thermal treatments. The results obtained are
0.33 kg water/kg dry solid). In drier samples, leaching flow not in accordance with those reported by other authors
was more important at higher temperatures. who considered this parameter as a constant characteristic
From Figs. 1 and 2, it is also observed that initial mois- parameter of each food material (Hung et al., 1993; Sopade
ture content is also an important variable in the rehydration and Kaimur, 1999). Nevertheless, other authors indicate
kinetics. Therefore, the quantity of water imbibed during that K2 value can change if structure or other properties
rehydration depends clearly on the duration of the dry- are modified by temperature during rehydration (Garcı́a-
ing step. Samples show lesser rehydration after longer dry- Pascual et al., 2005; Lopez et al., 1995). In this manner,
ing periods, indicating the presence of shrunken and K2 parameter increases with temperature during rehydra-
closed structures that avoid the passage of water. tion of lupin (Solomon, 2007), chickpea (Turhan et al.,
2002), and carrot (Planinic et al., 2005) and decreases for
4.2. Peleg’s modelling some other foods such as hazelnut (Lopez et al., 1995),
blueberries (Lim et al., 1995), pasta (Cunningham et al.,
Table 1 shows values of K1 and K2 parameters and equi- 2007), amaranth (Resio et al., 2006), or wheat products
librium moisture content obtained from Eqs. (2) and (3) at (Maskan, 2002). Consequently, equilibrium moisture con-
tent of chestnut increases with temperature (Table 1).
K1 and K2 values were correlated by means of exponen-
Table 1
Parameters and coefficients of determination of Eq. (1) and values
tial and linear equations, respectively,
equilibrium moisture content, Eq. (2), for rehydration at several temper- Ea
atures of chestnuts with different initial moisture content ln K 1 ¼ ln K 3  ð10Þ
RT
2
T (°C) K1 s (kg K2 (kg R Xeq (kg K 2 ¼ K 4 þ K 5T ð11Þ
water/kg d.b.)1 water/kg d.b.)1 water/kg d.b.)
X0 (d.b.) = 0.66 ± 0.06 Tables 2 and 3 show the values of the parameters of Eqs.
25 2733 1.57 0.99 1.24 (10) and (11), respectively, obtained after fitting of experi-
45 2257 1.44 0.97 1.37 mental data satisfactorily. Maskan (2002) reported activa-
70 1572 0.95 0.99 1.66 tion energy values for wheat products over the same range.
100 635 0.54 0.99 2.59
This parameter decreased with initial moisture content,
X0 (d.b.) = 0.33 ± 0.01 indicating that water absorption rate depends strongly on
25 2991 1.07 0.98 1.26 rehydration temperature in the case of lower initial mois-
45 1690 1.02 0.99 1.32 ture content. In this way, structure and characteristics of
70 837 1.04 0.99 1.30 the dried samples at the lowest moisture content as well
100 893 0.70 0.98 1.76
as reconstitution ability of these samples are modified.
X0 (d.b.) = 0.24 ± 0.03 The effect of temperature on K2 parameter (b parameter)
25 5234 1.38 0.99 0.95
45 1878 1.16 0.99 1.12
70 973 0.97 0.99 1.22 Table 2
100 468 0.91 0.98 1.35 Estimated parameters of Eq. (10) and coefficients of determination

X0 (d.b.) = 0.15 ± 0.02 X0 (kg water/kg d.b.) K3 (kg d.b.) (kg water)1 Ea (kJ/kg mol) R2
25 3264 1.39 0.99 0.88 0.66 2.60 17,621 0.91
45 2053 1.09 0.98 1.08 0.33 4.34 15,870 0.86
70 1273 1.01 0.99 1.11 0.24 0.05 29,090 0.99
100 243 0.83 0.99 1.38 0.15 0.02 30,715 0.91
 R. Moreira et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 584–594 589

Table 3 4.0
Parameters of Eq. (11) and coefficients of determination
25°C, Xo = 0.66
3.5
X0 (kg water/ K4 (kg d.b./ K5 (kg d.b./ R2 25°C, Xo = 0.15
kg d.b.) kg water) (kg water K)) 100°C, Xo = 0.15
3.0
100°C, Xo = 0.66
0.66 5.932 0.0144 0.98
0.33 2.475 0.0046 0.73 2.5
0.24 3.178 0.0062 0.90

WAC
0.15 3.375 0.0069 0.91 2.0

1.5

is also more important in chestnuts pre-dried at lower 1.0

moisture content.
Finally, it is necessary to indicate that no clear behav- 0.5

iour of K1 parameter was found with the initial moisture 0.0

content of pre-dried samples, K1 values varying in a more 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5
restricted range (at the same temperature) than samples X (kg water/kg d.b.)
with the initial moisture content rehydrated at different
Fig. 3. Values of WAC index at different moisture content during
temperature, Table 1. rehydration at 25 °C and 100 °C of chestnuts with several initial moisture
contents.
4.3. Rehydration indexes

Rehydration process depends on structural changes in
vegetal tissues and cells of food material during drying,
which produces shrinkage and collapse and reduces the
water absorption capacity, thereby preventing the complete
rehydration of the dried product (Krokida et al., 2003).
Table 4 shows the values of WAC, DHC, and RA indexes,
as function of temperature, rehydration times, and mois-
ture content of samples for chestnuts pre-dried at 0.15
(kg water/kg d.b.), in a particular case in which leaching
process takes place. As expected, DHC index decreases
and WAC and RA indexes increase with time. Despite
the fact that comparison of index values is difficult because
of the differences in experimental conditions and rehydra-
tion times assayed by different authors, DHC index can
be considered high compared with values reported by other
authors for parsley (Lewicki, 1998b), tomato (Lewicki
et al., 2002) or mushroom (Garcı́a-Pascual et al., 2006),
and in the same range of values for potato (Lewicki,
1998b). This index was higher than 0.94 in experiments car-
ried out at 25, 45, and 70 °C. Loss of soluble compounds
can be considered very low and is remarkable only at high
temperatures of rehydration and particularly in samples
pre-dried at low moisture contents (Table 4).
WAC and RA indexes vary in the same manner due to
only slight changes in DHC values. At higher tempera-
tures, indexes vary more rapidly, but practically changes
linearly with moisture content. Fig. 3 shows some experi-
mental data to show the behavior of WAC (and as a con-
sequence, RA index) with temperature and moisture
content. Dried chestnuts at the lowest moisture content
show lower slopes for the linear function of WAC versus
moisture content than the corresponding slopes of moister
samples. WAC values at 100 °C of dried samples at the
lowest moisture content are higher than those of the rehy-
drated chestnuts at 25 °C. The opposite behavior is
observed initially in the case of samples with high moisture
content. These results indicate that drying modifies the
structure of the chestnut, reducing the rehydration ability
and dried samples at lower moisture content achieve higher
WAC values with increase in temperature because of the

Table 4
Values of WAC, DHC and RA indexes at different temperatures and times of rehydration (and moisture content) for chestnuts pre-dried at 0.15 kg water/
(kg d.b.)
t (min) X (kg water/kg d.b.) DHC (–) WAC (–) RA (–) X (kg water/kg d.b.) DHC (–) WAC (–) RA (–)
25 °C 45 °C
10 0.319 1.000 0.255 0.255 0.423 1.000 0.447 0.447
30 0.454 0.982 0.474 0.465 0.547 0.998 0.590 0.588
60 0.569 0.952 0.599 0.570 0.745 0.960 0.856 0.822
120 0.703 0.929 0.775 0.720 0.927 0.922 1.053 0.970
180 0.784 0.926 0.864 0.800 0.968 0.858 1.018 0.874

70 °C 100 °C
2.5 0.240 1.000 0.235 0.235 0.504 0.913 0.716 0.653
5 0.305 0.999 0.329 0.328 0.839 0.895 1.188 1.064
10 0.458 0.966 0.664 0.641 0.906 0.888 1.274 1.132
30 0.637 0.977 0.999 0.976 1.325 0.831 1.810 1.503
60 0.899 0.911 1.317 1.199
590 R. Moreira et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 584–594

loss of soluble compounds under these conditions. Other-
wise, in sample pre-dried over a shorter duration of time,
the structure shows less damage and leaching flow is prac-
tically neglected, indicating that high values of WAC
indexes and cooking process during rehydration at 100 °C
must modify the structure and promote biochemical reac-
tions, resulting in lower values of WAC indexes. Neverthe-
less, more data is required to explain these results on mass
transfer phenomena. Similar results were found during
rehydration of strawberry (Meda and Ratti, 2005). Values
of WAC and RA indexes were higher than those reported
in bibliography, but it is necessary to take into account
the nature of chestnuts and the longer rehydration times
employed compared with the other works (around 10–
20 min).
4.4. Swelling during rehydration
Volume recovery or swelling is another important factor
that should be analyzed during rehydration of samples.
Fig. 4 shows the variations in the volume of samples
obtained experimentally with n-heptane by displacement
technique (calculated from Eq. (8)) versus the volume of
imbibed water, which is calculated from the mass of water
(qw = 1000 kg/m3) obtained from rehydration kinetics val-
material allowing higher water/tissue area of contact can
explain these results. In this way, ideal volumetric swelling
can mean that water mainly fills in the initial periods the
open void spaces of food matrix and after that tissue struc-
ture only is rehydrated partially in the more external zones.
These assumptions can be confirmed by textural analysis of
rehydrated samples.
4.5. Texture analysis during rehydration
Fig. 5 shows the maximum stress and module of elastic-
ity of rehydrated samples at 25 °C with different initial
moisture content and also experimental data previously
obtained (Moreira et al., 2007) on texture of dried chest-
nuts at different moisture contents. In rehydrated samples,
both parameters decrease as moisture content of samples
increases. It can be observed that samples rehydrated dur-
ing short times (corresponding points with lower moisture
content of each line) show maximum stress, higher than
that of samples dried to the same levels of moisture con-
tent. When rehydration process progresses and the samples
a 4

ues. All experimental points (at each initial moisture con-

Xo (kgwater/kg d.b.)
tent and temperature tested) are shown in Fig. 4, 3
0.15
approximately on the diagonal (random differences). No
0.24
effect of temperature was observed on swelling, and the vol-
σ·10 (Pa)

0.33
ume recovery can be considered ideal swelling. These 2
0.66
-6

results differ from those of volumetric shrinkage of chest- drying

nuts during drying. In this case, shrinkage in volume was

slightly higher than the volume occupied by the water that 1
was removed (existence of collapse process) (Moreira et al.,
2005). The different mechanisms involved during rehydra-
tion with regard to drying and, taking into account in addi- 0
tion the fact that low permeability of the dried structure 0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
can be compensated by the increase of porosity of dried X (kg water/kg d.b.)

25
b
0.7
20 Xo (kg water/kg d.b.)
0.6
0.15
0.24
E·10 (Pa)

0.5 15
0.33
0.66
-6

0.4
∆ Vwater

drying
10

0.3

5
0.2

0.1 Swelling volume 0

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
0 X (kg water/kg d.b.)
0 0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7
(∆ Vwater)hep Fig. 5. (a) Maximum stress and (b) module of elasticity of rehydrated
chestnuts at 25 °C with different initial moisture contents. (Data for dried
Fig. 4. Volumetric swelling during rehydration of chestnut samples. samples were taken from Moreira et al., 2007).
 R. Moreira et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 584–594 591

Table 5
Kr and KE values of Eq. (12) for rehydrated chestnuts at different initial a 18

moisture content and temperatures (in brackets R2 values of linear fitting) 16

X0 (kg water/kg d.b.)
14 Xo (kg water/kg d.b.)
0.15 0.24 0.33 0.66

σ/ε Hmax·10 (Pa)

12 0.15
T (°C) Kr  106 (Pa min)1 0.24
25 0.0057 (0.95) 0.0031 (0.94) 0.0038 (0.94) 0.0027 (0.90)

-6
10 0.33
45 0.0111 (0.97) 0.0045 (0.91) 0.0061 (0.99) 0.0044 (0.90) 0.66
70 0.0227 (0.98) 0.0111 (0.89) 0.0272 (0.99) 0.0132 (0.98) 8
drying
100 0.2128 (0.98) 0.5380 (0.93) 0.0758 (0.98) 0.0382 (0.97) 6
6 1
KE  10 (Pa min) 4
25 0.0038 (0.94) 0.0021 (0.93) 0.0028 (0.95) 0.0020 (0.91)
45 0.0044 (0.98) 0.0028 (0.90) 0.0036 (0.98) 0.0028 (0.89) 2
70 0.0125 (0.97) 0.0073 (0.96) 0.0084 (0.89) 0.0116 (0.97) 0
100 0.0563 (0.90) 0.1075 (0.99) 0.0171 (0.97) 0.0509 (0.89) 0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5
X (kg water/kg d.b)

show increase in moisture content, maximum stress signif- b 18

icantly decreases and reaches values in the same range as 16
those of dried chestnuts. These results can be explained
based on the fact that at short times of rehydration, sam- 14
Xo (kg water/kg d.b.)
ples are not still equilibrated with the presence of great gra-
σ/ε Hmax·10 (Pa)
12
dients of moisture content from surface to centre (observed 0.15
-6

10 0.24
differences between samples pre-dried at different moisture 0.33
contents can be explained in the same manner). In these 8
0.66
samples, maximum stress is high because the drier internal 6 drying
structure confers rheological characteristics to the sample.
4
At the end of rehydration, samples are practically equili-
brated (experiments at lower temperatures) or amount of 2
water absorbed is high (at higher temperatures) such as 0
that shown in rehydration kinetics, and maximum stresses 0 0.3 0.6 0.9 1.2 1.5
exhibit values practically in the same range as those of X (kg water/kg d.b)
dried samples obtained from fresh product. The same
Fig. 6. Variations of r/eHmax ratio with moisture content of rehydrated
explanations can be made for the variations in the modulus chestnuts with different initial moisture contents at (a) 25 °C and (b) 70 °C.
of elasticity during rehydration, but in this case, values of
equilibrated samples are obviously lower than those
of dried samples at the same moisture content because of imum stress and modulus of elasticity behaviors of samples
the structural disruption. These results can also indicate rehydrated during longer times are in according with the
that the state of the water absorbed during rehydration data reported for apple, banana, potato, and carrot (Krok-
in chestnut (especially at high moisture contents) is differ- ida and Philippopoulos, 2005).
ent from that of the water absorbed by the fresh product. With regard to the effect of temperature on textural
As a result, structure of chestnuts is modified and softer parameters during rehydration, several models based on
samples without natural turgor of fresh product are expressions for reaction rate are available in the literature
obtained when rehydration is accomplished. Because final and generally a first-order model is employed (Nisha
rehydrated samples show the same range for the maximum et al., 2006). In this study, a second-order kinetic equation
values of stresses than dried samples at the same moisture was successfully employed for the modelling of maximum
contents, low values of the modulus of elasticity indicate stress and modulus of elasticity values during rehydration.
that rehydration results in more ductile products. The max- The integrated equation is given by:

Table 6
Parameters of Eq. (13) for obtaining K values in the range from 25 to 70 °C
X0 (kg water/kg d.b.) Kr  106 (Pa min)1 KE  106 (Pa min)1
2
K6 (–) K7 (K) R K6 (–) K7 (K) R2
0.15 5.366 3138.6 0.99 3.445 2731.1 0.86
0.24 9.365 4500.0 0.93 3.288 2849.4 0.93
0.33 3.913 1912.2 0.96 2.496 2495.4 0.99
0.66 7.447 4027.5 0.98 7.115 4024.4 0.91
592 R. Moreira et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 584–594

a 90 c 35

85 30

80
25

75
20

b*
L*

70
15
65
T ( °C)
T ( ºC)
25 25 10
60 25 25
45 45
45 45
70 70
55 5 70 70
100 100
100 100
Fresh
Fresh
50 0
0 50 100 150 200 0 50 100 150 200
t (min) t (min)

b 4
d 30

3
25
2

1 20

0
∆E*
a*

15
-1

-2 T ( °C) 10 T ( °C)
25 25 25 25
-3 45 45 45 45
70 70 5
-4 70 70
100 100
Fresh 100 100
-5 0
0 50 100 150 200 0 50 100 150 200
t (min) t (min)

Fig. 7. Color kinetics of rehydrated chestnuts from X0 = 0.66 (kg water/kg d.b.) (closed dots) and 0.15 (kg water/kg d.b.): (a) L*, (b) a*, (c) b*, and (d) DE.
Horizontal lines correspond to values of fresh chestnut (dashed lines are the confidence interval).

So  S
¼ K ðr or EÞ t
SoS
where S can be the maximum stress or modulus of elasticity
at time t, and K(r or E) are the corresponding rate constants
of the model obtained by fitting of the experimental data at
each initial moisture content of chestnuts tested. Table 5
shows the corresponding values of Kr and KE. In both
cases, rate constant tends to decrease with initial increase
in moisture content and increase with temperature. This
means that kinetics of texture degradation is improved by
temperature rehydration and extension of previous drying
step. Nevertheless, values at 100 °C are higher in most of
the cases, indicating the very fast changes produced during
rehydration/cooking (starch swelling and gelatinization)
process at this temperature. Therefore, to take into account
the influence of temperature on the rate constant, an
Arrhenius equation was employed at temperature ranging
from 25 to 70 °C
K7
ð12Þ ln K ðr or EÞ ¼ K6  ð13Þ
T
Values of K6 and K7 parameters are listed together with the
corresponding coefficients of determination in Table 6.
Finally, r–eHmax ratio is a measure of the food crispness
(Telis et al., 2005), a property that is generally essential and
related to chestnut fruit. The results obtained in this work
shown in Fig. 6 indicate that this property varies in the same
manner as that modulus of elasticity, obtaining at the end of
the rehydration samples with low crispness values. Pre-
dried samples dried over shorter time preserve their textural
characteristics, showing higher crispness values (Fig. 6a).
Crispness values decrease with increase in temperature
(Fig. 6b) over all the range of moisture content.
4.6. Color analysis during rehydration
Color is a property that is very much appreciated by
consumers. Values of color parameters for fresh chestnuts
 R. Moreira et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 86 (2008) 584–594
were: L* = 82.69 ± 3.24, a* = 0.71 ± 1.04, and b* =
25.87 ± 4.69. Chestnuts underwent color changes during
drying, with decrease in L* (lower luminosity) and b*
(higher blue proportions) and increase in a* (higher red
proportions), resulting in darker samples. Linear relation-
ships between each color coordinate and moisture content
of chestnuts were previously established, with no depen-
dence on drying temperature (Moreira et al., 2005).
Fig. 7 show L*, a*, b*, and DE* parameter kinetics for the
two extreme initial moisture content of chestnut tested at
each temperature of rehydration. Intermediate moisture
contents showed intermediate behaviors. Values of L*
decreased, with no dependence on initial moisture content
and strong dependence on temperature rehydration,
Fig. 7a. Only samples with initial high moisture content
showed ranges of L* values similar to those of fresh chest-
nuts. This is an unexpected result, which is attributed to
the fact that water gain is normally associated with higher
luminosity (Gowen et al., 2006); therefore, from these
results, it can be understood that some modifications would
have occurred in the optical properties of chestnuts (changes
on porosity and oxidation processes or other chemical reac-
tions) during hydration. Simultaneously, a* values increase
(a* values are practically constant at 25 °C for samples with
high initial moisture content being in the confidence interval
of fresh chestnuts) during rehydration, Fig. 7b. In this case,
temperature seems to accelerate changes in a* values in sam-
ples less dehydrated previously. Probably, one explanation
for this is attributed to the fact that enzymatic browning
reactions catalyzed by polyphenoloxidase are not com-
pletely developed during drying and these reactions continue
to occur during rehydration in samples with higher initial
moisture content (Zhang and Chen, 2006). The b* values
also show a decrease during rehydration, Fig. 7c. No signif-
icant influences of initial moisture content at 25 °C were
found and at higher temperatures more accentuated changes
were found in samples pre-dried over shorter time. These
results show that optical properties of chestnuts are not
recovered during rehydration because all coordinates
change in a manner similar to that during drying. Fig. 7d
shows DE* kinetics calculated by means of Eq. (9). The
results indicate that total difference in color kinetics is not
dependent on initial moisture content (except experiments
conducted at 100 °C in which samples with high initial mois-
ture content show higher DE* values). Whereas in all cases,
DE* kinetics increases with temperature. Further research is
needed to understand better the relationships between opti-
cal characteristics during rehydration.
5. Conclusions
Rehydration kinetics show horizontal asymptotes, with
an initial steep increase in water absorption followed by a
decrease in rehydration rate. Higher temperatures lead to
an increase in water absorption rates and in the amounts
of absorbed water. At 100 °C, rehydration rate dramati-
cally increases mainly by gelatinization of starch. Leaching
593
flow was more important at higher temperatures and at
lower moisture content values. Samples previously dried
over longer periods showed lesser rehydration, indicating
the presence of modified structures. Peleg’s model was suc-
cessfully applied to describe the rehydration kinetics of
chestnut. Parameters of this model were satisfactorily cor-
related with temperature through exponential (K1) and lin-
ear (K2) regressions. With regard to rehydration indexes,
DHC index decreases and WAC and RA indexes increase
with time and temperature, and WAC and RA indexes
showed a linear variation with moisture content. Analysis
of these indexes confirms that drying modifies the structure
of the chestnut, reducing the rehydration ability. Whereas
no effect of temperature and initial moisture content was
observed on swelling and the volume recovery can be con-
sidered as ideal swelling, meaning that low permeability of
the dried structure can be compensated by increase of
porosity of dried material allowing water penetration.
Analysis of texture kinetics analysis indicated that max-
imum stress, modulus of elasticity, and crispness decreased
with time because samples rehydrated over short times are
not equilibrated and properties of dried tissue are retained.
Final samples with moisture content similar to that of fresh
samples showed acceptable maximum stress recovery, but
modulus of elasticity was lower, thereby resulting in sam-
ples that are more ductile and softer compared with fresh
samples. Textural kinetics was satisfactorily modelled by
a proposed second-order kinetic model. The corresponding
rate constant was successfully correlated with temperature
(by Arrhenius relationship).
Change in parameters related to optical characteristics
showed a similar trend during rehydration and drying.
Color is not recovered during rehydration. The results indi-
cate that lower temperatures are more adequate to preserve
this property.
In conclusion, chestnuts showed acceptable rehydration
rates for a low porosity product and adequate values of
rehydration indexes and swelling, but rehydrated samples
were softer and darker than fresh samples, that low-tem-
perature rehydration and high initial moisture content con-
ferred better global properties to rehydration.
Acknowledgements
The authors acknowledge the partial support of Xunta
de Galicia (Spain) for the project PGIDIT04TAL-
265004PR.
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