Effects of Different Drying Methods on the Quality of Squid Cubes

Abstract

The effects of three different drying methods (e.g., intermediate infrared-assisted convection drying, low-frequency (915 MHz) microwave drying, and hot-air drying) on the quality of squid cubes were investigated. The quality parameters used to evaluate the drying efficiency were color, shrinkage, rehydration ratio, and hardness of the final dried products. The results showed that intermediate infrared-assisted convection drying and low-frequency microwave drying have the advantages over hot-air drying in terms of drying rate, shrinkage percentage, and rehydration ratio. Low-frequency microwave-dried samples displayed a puffed structure and their hardness was the highest. The intermediate-wave infrared-assisted convection drying, at 60°C, was identified as the best method for squid-cube drying in this study.

Keywords:

• Hot-air drying
• Intermediate-wave infrared-assisted convection drying
• Low-frequency microwave drying
• Product quality
• Squid cubes

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work was financially supported by the China 863 HI-TECH Research and Development Program (No. 2011AA100802) and Jiangsu Province R&D Project (BY2012063). The authors wish to thank Senttech Infrared Technology Co., Taizhou, China, for technical assistance. The authors acknowledge the assistance of Prof. A. S. Mujumdar of the National University of Singapore in the experiment design of the project.