The Effect of Different Drying Methods on Drying Kinetics and Texture of Pistachio

 Drying is one of the oldest methods that humans have employed to preserve and store foods. Today, this method is being widely utilized, as such there have been great advances in the production of dried fruits.

 In this study, different drying methods including sun drying, oven at different temperatures (70, 80, 90 or 100 °C), and microwave were used to dry “Ohadi” pistachio cultivar. In this respect, the effect of these methods on drying kinetics and the duration of drying was investigated.

 The results showed a meaningful difference (p<0.05) between the drying methods. The results also demonstrated that the microwave method accelerates the drying process. The results of the drying methods on qualitative characteristics of the pistachio such as changes in color parameters showed that the application of the microwave method increases color changes. Based on the results of the modeling for pistachio drying, Newton model was the most suitable model for describing the drying process of pistachio layers at 70°C oven, binomial model was the most suitable model for describing drying process of pistachio layers by oven at of 80, 90 and 100 °C.

 The Page model was the most suitable model for describing the drying process of pistachio layers by microwave, and the Wang and Singh model was selected as the most suitable model for describing the drying process of pistachio layers by sun drying method.