Drying methods differed in processing parameters (Table 1) and
affected the physical attributes of blueberries (Fig. 1). The initial
moisture content of blueberries was 6.22 ± 0.02 kg H2O kg1 DM,
whereas that of dried fruits was between 0.16 ± 0.04 and
0.23 ± 0.03 kg H2O kg1 DM. HACD at 60 C resulted in the longest
drying time (Fig. 2). The increase in air temperature from 60 C to
90 C shortened the drying time by 77%. HACD at 60 C and 90 C
of blueberries were found to be time-consuming due to the presence
of a waxy outer layer that caused an inhibition in the moisture
removal. MWVD of blueberries (1.00 ± 0.02 h) shortened the
drying time even by 96% and 82%, compared to HACD at 60 C and
90 C (Table 1, Fig. 2). HACD at 60 C + MWVD was performed for
10.5 h and HACD at 90 + MWVD C for 3.1 h. HACD + MWVD
processes were 42–55% faster than HACD conducted at the same
temperature (Table 1, Fig. 2). Drying kinetics of blueberries were
described using linear and a semi-theoretical exponential models
proposed by Henderson and Pabis (1969). The high values of
R-squared (from 0.9736 ± 0.0017 to 0.9999 ± 0.0001) as well as
low values of RMSE (from 0.0014 ± 0.0001 to 0.0503 ± 0.0033) in
all the cases studied show the reasonability of the estimated and
e