Ultrasonically Enhanced Osmotic Pretreatment of Sea Cucumber Prior to Microwave Freeze Drying

Abstract

A new pretreatment method involving use of ultrasound prior to microwave freeze drying of sea cucumber was examined experimentally. It was observed that ultrasound-assisted osmotic pretreatment can reduce by about 2 h the time needed for microwave freeze drying. An optimization study using response surface analysis was carried out to determine the optimal operating parameters to minimize drying time while maximizing quality.

Keywords:

• Drying time
• Microwave freeze drying
• Osmosis
• Pretreatment
• Sea cucumber
• Ultrasound

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors are grateful for 863-HI-TECH Research and Development Program of China for supporting the research under the contract No. 2006AA09Z430.