2.5. Rehydration
2.5.1. Experimental methodology
Samples for the rehydration tests were obtained at the end of drying process. Rehydration experiments were performed by
immersing each sample (a slice of dehydrated pineapple) in a glass beaker containing 150 mL of deionised water at temperature of the test (25 or 40 ◦C); then, the glass container was placed onto the thermostatic hot-plate provided with a magnetic stirrer and was covered with aluminum film; the system was agitated at constant speed (70 rpm) throughout the test.
Samples were weighed before rehydration procedure (mdh). Pineapple slabs were removed at predetermined time intervals;
the adhering water was carefully blotted with filter paper, weighed (mrh) and immediately returned to the same soaking
water. This procedure was repeated until constant weight during an immersion period of 15 min. All the experiments were
performed in triplicate. From moisture content data previous to rehydration (after
of drying) and the increase of sample weight, the water content in the fruit during rehydration, in grams of water per 100 g
of dry matter, was evaluated. Low temperatures were chosen to study the fruit rehydration
because a probable application of the pineapple dehydrated in breakfasts, added to milk or yogurt, and in the
dessert elaboration is expected, where the rehydration process
takes place at low temperatures and short times. There are numerous works in which researches measure the ability of the dried material to rehydrate; nevertheless there is no consistency in the experimental procedures
applied nor in the nomenclature used (Lewicki, 1998).
In order to quantify the capacity of dehydrated pineapple to rehydrate two coefficients were used: the rehydration ratio
(RR) and the coefficient of rehydration (COR).The rehydration ratio (RR) is defined as the mass ratio of rehydrated sample to that of dry sample (Cunningham et al.,2008).
The coefficient of rehydration, which indicates the degree of weight recovery with respect to the fresh product, is calculated
according to the following expression (Prabhanjan et al., 1995; Khraisheh et al., 2004):
where mrh is the mass of rehydrated sample (g); mdh is the mass of dehydrated sample (before rehydration); Xdh is the
moisture content (% wet basis: g water per 100 g of matter) of sample after drying; Xrh is the moisture content (% wet basis)
of the rehydrated sample (during rehydration process); X0 is the moisture content (% wet basis) of fresh fruit, previous to
drying.
2.5.2. Mathematical modeling of rehydration
The Page model was used to describe the water uptake kinetic of dehydrated pineapple during the rehydration process at
constant temperature. This empirical model is based on the following assumptions: water temperature is constant during
rehydration and initial moisture content is uniform. With the aim of explaining the water loss during singlelayer drying Eq. (5) was developed (Page, 1949):