COMBINED OSMOTIC AND MICROWAVE DRYING OF STRAWBERRIES

Strawberries pretreated with 2% ethyl oleate and 0.5% NaOH were osmotically dehydrated and their osmotic dehydration rate is compared with untreated berries. It was found that treated berries dehydrated belter compared to untreated berries. Osmotically dehydrated berries were convective and microwave dried at different power levels and results were compared with respect to drying time and rate. The rehydration ratio, texture, color and sensory values are compared with freeze dried strawberries with the same pretreatment. It was found that microwave drying was short in time and the quality parameters of the microwave dried berries were comparable to those of freeze dried berries.