Modelling of the rehydration process of brocolli florets

Abstract

 The aim was to study the rehydration kinetics of branched bodies such as broccoli florets, at different temperatures, and to this end a diffusional model was used considering the product structure as a sum of different sized cylinders. The rehydration rate was observed to increase with water temperature. The equilibrium moisture content of the product linearly decreased as the water temperature increased (r=0.95). A close fit between the model and the experimental data was obtained when the effective diffusion coefficient (D_eff) and equilibrium moisture content (W_e) were identified at each temperature (average explained %var=99.65). The temperature influence on D_eff was interpreted by the Arrhenius relationship, with an activation energy of 89.73 kJ/mol.