The above results were confirmed by SEM photographs
shown in Fig. 7a–d, which illustrate cross section of banana
slices dried by LPSSD–FIR and VACUUM–FIR at some
selected conditions. It is clearly seen from these figures that
when drying was performed at lower temperature (80 C in
this case) banana slices dried by LPSSD–FIR (see Fig. 7a)
had larger and more pores compared with those dried by
VACUUM–FIR as can be seen in Fig. 7b. This may be
the reason why banana slices dried by LPSSD–FIR had
higher rehydration ability than those dried by VACUUM–
FIR when drying was performed at 80 C. However,
the structure of banana slices dried by both
methods was similar in the case of drying at 90 C (see
Fig. 7c and d). Consequently, the rehydration ability of
banana slices dried by LPSSD–FIR and VACUUM–FIR
was not significantly different.