DRYING CHARACTERISTICS OF CAP AND STEM OF MUSHROOM

Abstract

Thin-layer drying of cap and stem of mushroom was studied at temperatures of 40, 50 and 60°C. Drying took place in the falling rate period, and the drying behaviour was adequately described by the Page’s equation. The activation energy values of cap and stem were determined to be 26.96 and 26.85 kJ/mol, respectively. The computed values of frequency factor k_o for cap and stem were 4174 and 6247 h^–1, respectively. The higher k_o value for stem implied lower resistance to diffusion of moisture and therefore resulted in less drying time for stem at similar moisture content.