In this study the effectiveness of drying methods – vacuum microwave drying (VMD), hot air drying (AD), convective
air drying combined with vacuum microwave drying (AD-VMD) and osmotic dehydration followed by
vacuum microwave drying (OD-VMD) – and their effects on both physicochemical and structural changes in
strawberries are compared. Drying performance was assessed by drying rate,moisture content and water activity,
while changes in quality attributes of strawberrieswere determined bymeasuring color, texture, microstructure,
shrinkage and rehydration ratio. A maximum drying rate of 6.74 × 10−4 kg water/(kg dry matter s) was
found for microwave-assisted drying, which results into a product of intermediate water activity. Combining
VMD with osmotic dehydration or air drying did not improve drying efficiency. VMD yields an elastic product
of improved mechanical resistance with just a slight loss of color and an appropriate rehydration performance.
Preliminary dehydration using hot air or sucrose solution was not able to improvemost of the quality attributes
of strawberries.