10 pr

/tood Dehydration
and Concentration
MRLM
controlled
field conditions, by a varietyof
under natural and baking.
is removed from foods operations a s cooking
ater such common

and food
c o ncentration
processes and during dehydration
enydration the termsfood
modern food processing,
towever, in degree
have acquired rather special
meanings. Often a sufficient
to the s u n .
the stalk by exposure
no further
drying for
in the field dry on to require
rains (approximately
14% moisture)
and is ap-
of dryness is achieved seeds and spices,
of many plant
This also is true high sugar
contents a s
etfective preservation. that develop
such as dates and figs, this natural s u n -
proached by certain fruits, humans learned to copy
tree. Centuries ago, and s u n .
them in the air
they dry out on the of meat by hanging
fish and thin slices during the
drying process to dry products tooka long time, bacterial spoilage
Where drying ofthese animal further preservative agents
smoke and salt as
slow operation occurred,
so the use of
evolved.
gradually but although s u n drying in
in combination with drying of the world,
use in many parts
Sun drying is still inand for certain products is the most economical kind of drying,
some parts of the world on the elements; it is
disadvantages. Sun drying is dependent
obvious not lower
,
it has several
high quality products; it generallyHill
slow and not suitable for many15%, which is too high for storage
stability of numerouS o
moisture contentbeoW about is to
it-fequires considerable space and the food being exposed subject
food products; and bird droppings,
contamination andhlosses from dust, insects, rodents,
back to the close of the eighteenth
with heated air date
Eftorts at arficial drying generally toartificialdrying
under controlled
century. Theérmfood dehydration refers not refer to all processes
food processing the term does
conditions) However, in modern removed when potatoes a r e fried
from foods. For example, wateris
that remove water
broiled. But these operations
do much more than simply
and steak
cereals toasted, as a form of food dehydration. Likewise,
conçéntra
and are not considered
remove water the water from foods (e.g., in
the prepáration
that remove only part of the currently accepted
tion processes soups) do not come under
syrups, evaporated milk,
condensed
of food dehydration.
the term
maaning of refers to the nearly complete removal of Y
then, food dehydration
na
strict sense,
that cause minimum or ideally no othert
under contpaed conditions are dried"
e r from foods toods, gepending on the item, commonly
in the
changes food properties puch are dried and eggs
milk
ot
abou Examples
fnal moisture within the Byhge Such products will have storage
cotlep, and orange juice erystals.
notato flakes, instamt or a
or longer. A major criterion of the quality of
year
t ability at room temperature when by the addition of water they be verv
reconstituted

drated foods is that

 REHYDRATED
8 FLUID 0z. EACH
TOMATO
ORANGE
GRAPEFRUIT

.93 0z. O.5 0z.

L 0z
DEHYDRATED
Natick Labor
gure 10.1. Weight and volume relationships in dehydrated juices. Courtesy of U.S. Army
tories.
 02

Somedrving processes Food Science

reeze-drying
An
Fig. 10.2 hasof large ffood sen to retain the.sieand shape of the originalfood.
issuch a process. The freeze-dried steak on the left
made in
shipping essentally
ESsenttany the same
same volume as the original steak. Savings may be
instance. Further,E someti
costs from
Costs fro reduced volunea weight, but not in size of containers in
etimes shipping. this
+than In such a costs are not based on weight but are bas
their originalfreeze-dried steaks would not be cheaper to
case,
pacCR
nird reason for counterparts.
dehydration is the productióof donvenience items. Good examples
s are instant coffee and instant mashed potatoes.
steps are In both cases al brewing Or
waer and stirs or completed before the produets are dried. The consumer sirnply adds
processes mixes. Regardless of the reasons for water removal, food
are based on sound scientific principles. dehydration
Heat and Mass
Transfer
Whatever method of drying is
the-product employed, food dehydration involves geting
the same and-getting-out-meisture. These two processes are not neatno
always
favored by
operating conditions. For
example, pressing food between two heated
would give close contact and improve heat transfer into the plates
bottom surfaces but would interfere food through the top and
with the escape of free moisture. It
might be better

DEHYDRATED
REHYDRATED
COOKED

wich which have been rehydrated

have
rethydrated and cooked. Courtesy of Food Processing.
Freeze-dried steaks
Fiqure 10.2.
 Food Dehydration and Concentration 203

bottom hot plate and get heat in, andfree surface on top of the food to
a
to use one interested in a maximum drying
moisture. In food dehydration,wegenerally are
letout rates. The following8
is made to.speed heat and mass transfer
rate/ and so every.ettort
Considerations are important in this regard.

Surface Area
SauTAH
pieces or thin layers to
Generally, food to be dehydrated is subdivided into small
for two reasons. First,a larger
Subdivision speeds drying
speedheatandmasa-transfer. with the heating medium and more
surfacearea providesmore surface in contact
Second,smaller particlesorthinner layers
suriacefrom which the moisture can escape. distance
center of the food and reduce the all
reducethe distance heat must travelto the 8urface and escape. Nearly types
through which moisture must travel to reach the
food to be dried.
of the
of food arters ensure a large surface area

Temperature
medium and the food,
the temperature difference between the heating
Thegreater into the food; this provides
the driving
will be the rate of heat transfer
Athe.greater medium is air, temperature plays
for moisture removal. When the heating be
force as water vapor, it must
second important role. As water is driven from the food which will
at the food's surface,
it will create a saturated atmosphere
carried away or water removal. The hottertheair thernore
moisture
the rate of subsequent also c a n
slowdowm saturated. Obviously, a greater volume of air
it will hold before becoming
than a lesser volume.
takeap more moisture

Air Velocit
that
cool air, but air in motion,
moisture than
Not only will heated air take up
more

the dryingfood'ssurface, preventing the

is, high-velocity air, will sweep it away from rapidly on a
atmosphere. Thus, clothes dry more

moistsre from creating a saturated

windy day.
Humidity
When airis the drying medium, the drierso-canthe air, the more rapid is the rate of
drying Moist air is closer te saturation and absorb and hold less additional
moisture than if it were dry
But thedryness of the air also-determines to how low.a moisture content the food
foods are hygroscopic. Each food has its own equilib-1
product can be dried. Dehydrated
riumrelative humidity. This is the humidity at a giventemperature at which the food
WIl Ttherlose mosture.to.the atmosphere nor pick up moisture from the atmospherell
Below this abmospheric humidity level,food can befurther dried-above this humidity
relative
itcannot, rather it picks up moisture firom the atmosphere. The equilibrium
humidity at different temperatures can be determined by exposing the dried product
to difflerent humidityatmospheres in bell jars and weighing the produet after several.
hours of exposure /?he humidity at which the product neither loses nor gains moisture
is the equilibriumrelative humidity) Plots of such data yield water sorption isotherm
 206 Food Science 14
1a
12114
121114
Normal Drying Curve
When foods are dried, they do not lose water at a constant ate all the
way down to
bone dryness. As drying progresses, the rate of water
conditions drops off. This is seen in Fig. 10.4 for
removal under any set of fixed
carrot íce. In practice, if 90%
product's water is removed in 4 h, it may require angther4h to remove most of a
remaining 10%. Since the removal rate becomesasymptotio, zero moisture of the
reached under practical operating is never
time thereafter, water conditions At the beginning of drying, and for some
generally continues to evaporate from a food piece at a rather
constant rate, as if it were drying froma free surface.
rate period of drying, in Fig. 10.4 it extends for 4 h. This is referred to.as
This is followed by
the.coastant
in the drying.curye, which leads into the an infection
These changes during falling rate-period drying
of
dehydration
mass transfer phenomena. A cube of food
can be
largely explained in terms of heat and
in the course of
Afrom its surfaces and dehydration will lose moisture
largely confined to its gradually devetop a thiek-dried tayer, with
center. From the center to remaining moisture
be established. the surface,
As a result, the outside dried a moisture gradient will
against rapid heat transfer into the layer will form an
leaves air voids behind it. In food piece, especially since the insulationbarzier
water remaining in the eenter addition to less evaporating water
driving force from decreased
did surface moisture has farther to travel to heat transfer,
its normal
at the
start of drying. Further, asget out of the food
the food dries, it piece than
equilibrium relative humidity. As it does, it begins to
water vapor from the
drying pick
approaches
are equal, drying ceases atmosphere
as fast as
it loses up molecules of
them. When these
rates
10
8