Ultrasound as pretreatment for drying garlic slices in microwave and convective dryer.

The effects of ultrasound pretreatment (US) before hot air drying (HAD) and microwave drying (MWD) of garlic slices were investigated. For this aim ultrasonic bath at 30 °C for 30 min (35 kHz), microwave oven at 540 W power and tray dryer at 60 °C and with 1.0 m/s air flow rate were used to reach the final moisture content of 5%. Drying rate increased in the US + HAD and the US + MWD groups by 19.30% and 13.82% respectively in comparison with control groups. The effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) of garlic slices were calculated from Fick's diffusion model for the HAD, US + HAD, MWD and the US + MWD groups as 1.420 × 10-10, 1.826 × 10-10, 1.177 × 10-8, 1.363 × 10-8 m2/s respectively. The rehydration rates increased, and bulk densities were decreased in the US + HAD and the US + MWD compared to the control groups. The color values were significantly affected after ultrasound pretreatment. Redness, and yellowness increased most in the US + HAD group.