Effect of Different Drying Processes on the Quality of Edible Bird's Nest

Abstract

In this experiment, the effects of hot air drying, microwave drying, vacuum freeze drying and supercritical CO2 drying on the quality of edible bird's nests were investigated by comparing and analyzing the sensory quality, drying rate, rise times, color, whole texture, microstructure and nutrient composition. The results showed that the rise rate (42.71±0.09) and color (79.16±0.35) of supercritical CO2-dried edible bird's nests were significantly higher than those of vacuum freeze-dried, microwave-dried and hot air-dried edible bird's nests (P0.05). The samples dried by supercritical CO2 and vacuum freeze-drying were found to have large and many cavities by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), while the cavities of the samples dried by microwave and hot air were smaller and had a tight structure. The total sugar content of the supercritical CO2 and vacuum freeze-drying samples were significantly higher than that of the hot-air and microwave drying samples, and the Lysine, Aspartic acid, Alanine and Methionine in the supercritical CO2-drying samples were significantly higher (P<0.05) than those of the other three dried processes. The quality of edible bird's nest varied greatly between different drying methods and supercritical CO2-drying was the best drying process for edible bird's nest.

Keywords

• edible bird's nest
• dry treatment
• supercritical co2-dried
• nutrients
• textural properties