Peach dehydration process using microwaves

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for dehydrating peaches using microwaves, which can be used in food industry enterprises, laboratories and research centers related to the dehydration processes. The process, according to the invention, consists in initially selecting peaches suitable for drying, ripe, undamaged, with a humidity of 87-91%, washing and removing the pits from them, then slicing them with a slicer into 3 mm thick slices and arranging a predetermined amount of slices horizontally in a single layer on a flat, perforated support in the drying chamber. After that, the slices are dehydrated by applying microwaves from a magnetron with a total power of 600 W at a regime of 185-245 W, or 800 W at a regime of 210-260 W, or 900 W at a regime of 225-285 W, for 180-225 min until a product humidity of no more than 20% is reached. At the same time, as a thermal agent, intended for removing humidity from the drying chamber, room air with a temperature of 26-30 °C, its relative humidity of 50-65%, normal atmospheric pressure and air flow speed of 1.0-1.8 m/s is used.