Approaches to improving the quality of dried fruit and vegetables

This paper gives an update of recent developments in the dry conservation of foodstuffs, focusing on fruits and vegetables. Technological progress in microwave and radio frequency assisted drying processes will be presented. The effects of dehydration on product quality will be discussed. As these technological developments are driven by consumer demand for healthy, fresh-like and convenient food, the effects of dehydration will be discussed. Increasingly, the link between the process and product quality can be elucidated by quantifying the mobility of complex food matrices. The role of the glass transition temperature on the quality and shelf-life of dehydrated foods will be described. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.