Vacuum Drying Characteristics of Salicornia herbacea L.

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Vacuum drying of Salicornia herbacea L. was performed at different drying temperatures (50, 60, 70, and 80C) to evaluate the drying characteristics and the effect of drying temperatures on the quality of Salicornia. As the drying temperature increased, the drying time decreased significantly (P< 0.05). The drying rate decreased with decrease in moisture content and increase in drying time. On the other hand, the drying rate increased with increase in drying temperature. The logarithmic model exhibited the best fit to the experimental drying data among the tested models. The drying constants estimated using the logarithmic model were found to be affected by the drying temperature. The activation energy for drying was 15.02 kJ mol-1. The surface color of the Salicornia herbacea samples was significantly affected by the drying temperature (P< 0.05). CIE L*-, b*-, and Chroma (C*)-values increased significantly, while a*- and hue angle (h*)-values decreased significantly after drying at all of the drying temperatures (P< 0.05).