were carried out. At the beginning of the process a relatively high drying rate was observed, so the dehydration
occurred fairly rapidly. This definitely affected the moisture distribution and caused shrinkage, giving the dried material of rather bad quality (Fig. 3). The second series of the experiments was carried out at the same stable air temperature but with preliminary
osmotic dehydration of cherries in 60% glucose solution for 30 min.
The third series of the drying tests was similar to the second one,
but the osmotic dewatering was additionally assisted with power
ultrasound. The dried fruits achieved each time the final moisture
content of about 6%, however, after 454, 438 and 400 min on average for above mentioned drying tests. Fig. 1 presents the drying
kinetics of cherry samples dried in: (a) stationary conditions without pretreatment (AD), (b) with osmotic dehydration (ODAD), and
(c) with ultrasound assisted osmotic dehydration (UDODAD).