Abstract: To reduce the vacuum freeze drying time and to decrease the energy consumption of sea cucumber drying, the vacuum freeze drying experiments for sea cucumber pretreated by a high-pulsed electric field (HPEF) were carried out. The effects of HPEF pretreatment on the drying time, energy consumption, and the shrinkage, rehydration rate, protein content, texture and acid mucopolysaccharide of the samples were determined to compare with those of control group. The results indicated that HPEF pretreatment can significantly reduce the drying time of sea cucumber, save drying energy and improve the rehydration rate of sea cucumber. Compared with control group, the samples treated by HPEF have no statistically significant difference in terms of shrinkage, texture, protein and acid mucopolysaccharide content. And, By a needle electrode, under applied voltages of 22.5 kV and frequency of 70 Hz, the drying time could be reduced 16.43%, the energy consumption could be saved 15.64%, and, the rehydration rate of dried samples could be improved 11.7%. This suggests an application potential for HPEF pretreatment in the vacuum freeze drying of sea cucumber.
Keywords: Vacuum freeze drying, high-pulsed electric field (HPEF), sea cucumber, pretreatment, rehydration rate
