HIGH ELECTRIC FIELD DRYING OF JAPANESE RADISH

Abstract

Japanese radish (Raphanus sativus L.) slices were dried under an alternating current (AC) high electric field (HEF) of 430 kV/m using a multiple point electrode and a grounded copper mesh. HEF with multipoint to a mesh electrode system could evaporate 87.5% of the total moisture from fresh radish slices on 7 h exposure. Oven-drying at 60°C and ambient air at 25°C for 7 h could dry 86.9% and 26.5% of the total moisture from the fresh radish slices respectively. The average rate of HEF drying from second hour to sixth hour was 0.025 g/min which was 0.0012 g/min higher than the oven-drying. Quality factors for HEF-dried radish exhibited less shrinkage, high absorption of water, better rehydration, less solids loss and better color than the oven-drying.

Keywords:

• Color
• High electric field
• Japanese radish
• Non-thermal drying
• Rehydration ratio
• Shrinkage
• Water absorption

Acknowledgments