Food Drying and Its Impact on Nutritional, Sensory, and Physical-Chemical Properties

Abstract

Foods have been preserved for longer than their natural shelf life by the ancient technique of drying them. Foods were first exposed to the sun in order to extract a significant amount of their water content, which helped to preserve them. Modern techniques including hot air drying, spray drying, lyophilization, infrared, microwave or radiofrequency drying, osmotic dehydration, or several mixed processes are now employed because the conventional solar dying method, which involved direct exposure to the sun, had numerous drawbacks. Drying can preserve a lot of foods, however it significantly changes their nutritional and organoleptic qualities when compared to their fresh counterparts. This paper's goal is to outline the topics covered in a plenary address presentation regarding the developments in drying techniques and how drying affects the qualities of dried foods. A search of the scientific literature was done for that, and the information was chosen depending on the subjects that were to be discussed.