| The study on osmotic pretreatment of oyster mushrooms was carried out in order to remove the moisture prior to further mechanical drying. Three salt concentration level (10, 15 and 20 g/100 g), two temperature levels of osmotic solution (30 and 45°C) and constant solution to mushroom ratio of 10 (w/v) were selected and the observations on water loss and solid gain were taken at an interval of 30 min up to 300 min. The osmotically pretreated samples were further dried up to its equilibrium moisture content in a tray drier at 60°C and experimental data were fitted successfully using Page and Henderson & Pabis model. The osmo-convective dehydrated samples were evaluated for its quality parameters i.e. color (L, a, b, ∆E, C* and h°), rehydration ratio... |
