Drying Kinetics, Rehydration Characteristics and Sensory Evaluation of Microwave Vacuum and Convective Hot Air Dehydrated Jackfruit Bulbs

Microwave vacuum and convective hot air dehydration of jackfruit (Artocarpus Heterophyllus) bulbs were carried out to study the effects of different dehydration treatments on drying characteristics, rehydration ability and quality attributes. Jackfruit bulbs were dehydrated by microwave power output of 58, 140, 220, and 321W respectively combined with vacuum level of -65 cmHg during microwave vacuum dehydration. Convective hot air dehydration was also conducted with the hot air temperature of 60, 70, and 80°C, respectively. Microwave vacuum dehydration with microwave power output of 321 W resulted in 133 times faster in drying time compared to convective hot air dehydration with hot air temperature of 60°C. All dehydration data were subjected to Newton and Page’s equation model fitting, where Page’s equation model was well fitted for all dehydration conditions with R² 0.994. Furthermore, microwave vacuum dehydration produced better quality of dehydrated jackfruit bulbs with higher rehydration ability and sensory attributes.