Effects of different drying methods on rehydration and quality of carrots

Effects of different drying methods on rehydration and quality of dried carrots and rehydration of the carrots dried by hot-air,microwave and the combined hot-air and microwave were studied.The results show that there were significant differences in rehydration characteristics and quality of dried carrots by different drying methods.The rehydration characteristics and quality were improved at lower hot-air temperature,shorter hot-air drying period and lower microwave power.The carrots dried by combined hot-air and microwave drying had a high rehydration with rehydration ratio of 6.02 and quality at hot-air temperature of 65℃,the moisture content of the hot-air dried carrot was 50% and microwave power was 170 W.