Research Information System
JOURNAL OF FOOD PROCESSING AND PRESERVATION, vol.39, no.2, pp.142-149, 2015 (SCI-Expanded)
The freeze drying is a suitable dehydration process for saffron that contains heat-sensitive volatile and aroma-yielding compounds such as crocin (act as a coloring agent), picrocrocin (responsible for the taste) and safranal (volatile oil that gives characteristic odor and aroma). The heat-sensitive volatile and aroma-yielding compounds of saffron can be more preserved using freeze drying in comparison with other conventional drying methods. In this study the freeze-drying characteristics of saffron was determined experimentally. The drying kinetics data were fitted to 10 different empirical diffusion drying models from literature to find the best model that represents the weight loss of saffron during the freeze drying. Among the models tested in this study, the Page model was found to be the best model in representing the drying kinetics of saffron during the freeze drying. Effective diffusivity found as 1.62x10(-11)m(2)/s.