Selection of effective technological parameters for vacuum drying of hard cheeses

Abstract

The work is devoted to the study of the influence of such vacuum drying technological parameters as the layer thickness and the degree of product grinding on the process efficiency. Experiments on vacuum drying of hard cheeses have been carried out while selecting the above parameters. Their influence on the duration of the process, organoleptic assessment and mass fraction of moisture in dry products has been established. It was found that with an increase in the thickness of the product layer, the duration of dehydration increases, but this increases the productivity of the installation as a whole. There was calculated values of the product relative surface for various degrees of grinding and shape. The organoleptic assessment made it possible to establish that the best quality is characterized by cheeses dehydrated with a thickness from 10 to 30 mm. In this mode, the organoleptic score can reach 26 points. If the layer thickness increases up to 40 mm, the organoleptic score decreases to 25-24 points. The mass fraction of moisture in dry cheeses has been determined depending on the thickness of the drying layer, the shape of the product and the degree of grinding. It was found that it is advisable to dehydrate cheeses with the above grinding parameters, which provides a minimum drying time, high quality indicators of the product, minimum energy consumption, and reaching the moisture mass fraction no more than 7%.