Hand Book Of Food Dehydration And Drying

About This Book

Hand Book of Food Dehydration and Drying (Engineers India Research Institute, ISBN 9788186732601) covers the drying and dehydration of foods across every major commodity group, with an unusually large set of costed project profiles.

Technique sections cover natural drying by sun, solar and shade methods, osmotic dehydration, and mechanical drying by air convection, drum and roller, vacuum and spray driers, with a comparison of conventional and freeze drying and atmospheric drying of foams. Supporting content covers sulphur dioxide treatment with sodium metabisulphite dilution tables, drying schedules for fruits and vegetables, reconstitution testing of dried products, spoilage of dried foods, and performance and thermal efficiency data for commercial drying equipment. Concentration is covered separately through solar concentration, open kettles, flash, thin film and vacuum evaporators, freeze concentration, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis, with the changes occurring during concentration and the production of intermediate moisture foods.

Commodity sections work through fruits individually, covering apple, apricot, banana, cherry, cranberry, fig, raisin grape, loganberry, nectarine, peach, pear and prune with both sun drying and mechanical dehydration, variety selection, tray loading, drying temperature, yield and grade size data. Vegetable sections cover around twenty crops including beans, beetroot, broccoli, cabbage, carrot, cauliflower, celery, sweet corn, garlic, mushroom, onion, pea, pepper, potato in granule, flake and flour form, sweet potato and tomato, with optimum storage conditions and nutrient retention during blanching.

Further sections cover dehydration of eggs, milk, cream, buttermilk, whey, butter oil and cheese; meat, fish, beef serum and gelatin; and miscellaneous products including food yeast, soluble coffee, dried soups, soft drink and pudding powders, potato chips and pectin. Closing sections cover plant sanitation and bacteriology, nutritive value, packaging and storage, and project profiles with supplier listings.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Hand Book of Food Dehydration and Drying cover?

The Hand Book of Food Dehydration and Drying (EIRI, ISBN 9788186732601) covers food drying from technique selection through to costed projects. Its main divisions are: drying and dehydration techniques including sun, solar, osmotic, convection, drum, vacuum, spray and freeze drying; food concentration methods; dehydration of fruits commodity by commodity; dehydration of vegetables; dehydration of eggs, milk and dairy products; dehydration of meat, fish and animal proteins; miscellaneous dried foods; plant sanitation and microbiology; nutritive value of dried foods; packaging and storage; around twenty project profiles; and listings of machinery and raw material suppliers.

Who is this food dehydration handbook written for?

This handbook is written for readers who need drying parameters and process detail by commodity. Its intended audience includes food processors operating or planning dehydration units, food technologists developing dried or powdered products, spray drying and freeze drying plant staff, quality control personnel, agricultural extension and post-harvest specialists, students of food technology, technical libraries, and entrepreneurs or consultants preparing project reports for a dehydration unit.

Who should consider starting a food dehydration business, and why?

Food dehydration suits entrants located near a growing belt who can secure produce through its season, since drying exists precisely to convert a perishable seasonal surplus into a storable, transportable product. The commercial case is straightforward: drying multiplies shelf life and cuts freight weight, dried powders and flakes sell into food manufacturing, institutional catering and export rather than depending on retail alone, and the same drying line can handle several commodities across the year as different crops come in. Entry is possible at several scales, from solar and cabinet drying of fruit up to spray drying of milk and juice powders. The constraints matter. Raw material cost dominates, and yields are low because most of the input is water, so a small change in fresh produce price moves the economics sharply. Drying is energy-intensive, making fuel cost and dryer efficiency central. Colour, rehydration behaviour and microbial quality determine whether a buyer accepts the product, so blanching, sulphiting and hygiene control are not optional. And FSSAI licensing applies from the outset, with export buyers typically specifying tighter microbiological and residue limits than domestic rules require.

How many project profiles does the book include?

Around twenty, which is among the most of any title in this series. Each covers plant and machinery, fixed capital, raw materials, monthly working capital, total capital investment and annual turnover. The projects include banana powder, sun-dried figs, desiccated coconut powder, freeze dried fruits and vegetables, dehydrated jackfruit, egg powder, fruit juice powder from concentrate, general food dehydration, ginger drying, grape powder, mustard powder, mango kernel seed starch, milk powder, potato powder in both manual and automatic plant configurations, tomato powder, tamarind seed powder, edible grade turmeric powder, garlic powder, dehydrated onion and onion powder, and dry herbal extracts.

What drying methods does the book explain?

Drying method coverage spans natural and mechanical routes with selection guidance. Natural methods covered include sun drying, solar drying, shade drying and osmotic dehydration. Mechanical methods covered include air convection driers, drum and roller driers, vacuum driers, spray driers with atomising device, drying chamber and method of operation, and freeze drying with a comparison against conventional drying. Foam mat drying is covered under atmospheric drying of foams. Supporting data includes performance figures for commercial spray drying equipment on representative materials, assumed thermal efficiencies for different heating systems, and drying schedules with tray loading, maximum temperature and yield by commodity.

Does the book cover dairy and egg powder production?

Yes. Dairy content covers dry milk with the changes occurring during drying, the composition of dry milks and whey, dried cream, dry buttermilk, dry whey, malted milk, anhydrous milk fat and dried cheese, with vitamin retention data. Egg content covers whole egg, yolk and white drying with conversion factors from whole egg to dried product, and bacterial count data for dried egg. Both appear again as project profiles, with milk powder covering roller drying and egg powder given its own costed project. Packaging and storage sections address dried egg and dry milk separately, since both are moisture and oxygen sensitive.

What does the book cover on hygiene and product quality?

Plant sanitation content covers sanitation practice within the plant, the bacteriology of dehydrated foods with count data for commercial dehydrated vegetables, dried fruits, dried egg and stored beef serum, and waste disposal. Quality content covers spoilage of dried products, reconstitution testing to assess how a dried product rehydrates, and the nutritive value of dried fruits, vegetables, milk, meat, eggs and yeast with composition tables. Storage content covers insect infestation, storage conditions and their effects by commodity, the effect of storage temperature on solubility of dried protein products, and compression of dehydrated foods with the conditions applicable to specific foods.

Does the book include supplier information?

Yes. Two listing sections cover suppliers of plant and machinery and suppliers of raw materials. Machinery categories listed include food dryers, washing machinery, boilers, blanching machinery, liquid storage tanks, food processing machinery, pumps, testing and analysis instruments, packaging machinery and dehydrating ovens. Raw material categories listed include food preservatives, processing chemicals, containers, colours and dyes, packaging and pouches, and stabilisers. These sections are useful at the equipment selection and costing stage, though contact details in any printed directory should be verified as current before use.