Drying and Quality Characteristics of Shredded Squid in an Infrared-Assisted Convective Dryer

Abstract

Drying is one of the most common methods for processing and preserving squids. A novel forced convective dryer based on infrared heating was developed with an online temperature control. By setting the drying medium temperature of 50°C, we studied the effects of infrared wavelength and air velocity on drying characteristics of the shredded squid and qualities of dried squid products. We also compared it with the conventional hot-air drying (HAD) and advanced microwave vacuum drying (MVD). The infrared heating rate increase was faster than that of HAD. The heating and drying at the wavelength of 2.5–3.0 µm were more effective than those at the infrared wavelength of 5.0–6.0 µm. Specific energy consumption linearly increased with the air velocity. Microstructure observation showed that the infrared-dried rehydrated sample displayed a muscle fiber structure similar to the fresh sample. The infrared-dried squids had less drying shrinkage, brighter color, and better rehydration capacity than HAD products. Their sensory qualities were better than HAD and MVD products. Above all, infrared drying with wavelength of 2.5–3.0 µm and air velocity of 0.5 m/s was suggested as the best drying condition for squids in this study.