Convective and Microwave Drying of Mushrooms (A. bisporus and P. ostreatus)

Dried edible mushrooms are able to be consumed in soup and sauce recipes. Utilization of A. bisporus and P. ostreatus in food formulations could bring added value to these products. In this study, A. bisporus and P. ostreatus samples were dried at 60, 70 and 80 degrees C in conventional oven and at 180, 360 and 600 W in a microwave oven until no weight changes were observed. Among 15 thin layer drying equations, Sigmoid model gave the best results after fitting the experimental moisture ratios. The effective moisture diffusivities of A. bisporus and P. ostreatus were in the range of 2.19068 x 10(8) - 8.57569 x 10(-8) m(2)/s for convective, 1.92368 x 10(-7) - 7.37349 x 10(-7) m(2)/s for microwave drying; 2.19068 x 10(-8) - 1.20754 x 10(-7) m(2)/s for convective, 1.60293 x 10(-7) - 6.09115 x 10(-7) m(2)/s for microwave drying respectively. The activation energies were calculated as 66.86 kJ/mol and 12.64 W/kg for A. bisporus and 83.25 kJ/mol and 12.34 W/kg for P. ostreatus.