The University of British Columbia

Jian Hua Wang

Timothy D Durance

Richard S Meyer

Christine H Scaman

David D Kitts

Ziba Vaghri

Chun Hu

A process for drying antioxidant-rich berries (such as blueberries) to preserve their antioxidant action and their antioxidant compounds is disclosed. The process may conventionally dry the antioxidant-rich berries to remove 0 to 90% of the initial mass of water associated with them, but the important step is subjecting the antioxidant-rich berries to vacuum microwave drying (VMD) at an absolute pressure of 0 to 200 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg) (preferably 30 to 60 mm Hg) and 0.1 to 2 watts of microwave power/gram of berries (preferably 0.5 to 1 watt/gram) to reduce the moisture content to a residual moisture content of less than 35% of the dry weight of the final dry product

Process for dehydration of berries

A vacuum microwave dehydration process for drying fresh mango and pineapple fruit pieces at low temperatures which results in a product with a 'fresh', uncooked flavor and a unique crunchy texture with little or no shrinkage which can not be achieved through conventional air drying.

Process for drying mango and pineapples

Growing community of inventors

Burnaby, Canada

Jian Hua Wang