Abstract
Hot-air assisted continuous radio frequency (HARF) heating was utilized to dry inshell hazelnuts with high initial moisture content (25.5%, MCwb) for achieving higher drying efficiency and lower shell cracks. Effect of electrode gap and hot-air (HA) velocity at 40 °C on drying efficiency, heating uniformity, and shell cracking ratio were investigated. The ideal electrode gap and hot-air (HA) velocity were identified as 14 cm and 2.0 m/s, respectively, to provide shorter drying time (3.5 h) compared to HA drying (22 h), and less (36%) level 3 cracked nuts (cracks with width >0.3 mm and length >10 mm, CR3). The two-step HA-HARF drying using 19% MCwb as an intermediate MCwb resulted in dried nuts with lower CR3 (27%). Shell cracking ratio highly correlated with the size and weight of inshell nuts and kernels, kernel weight percentage, and air-gap volume between shell and kernel. Unexpectedly, shell cracks to level 3 influenced kernel color, but not lipid oxidation. Level 3 cracked nuts dried by the two-step HA-HARF exhibited much less lipid oxidation than that of HA dried non-cracked nuts during accelerated storage at 35 °C, indicating that two-step HA-HARF has great potential for drying hazelnuts with high quality and storability.
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