Drying of shiitake mushrooms in a vacuum dryer and optimization of the process by response surface methodology (RSM)

Optimization of shiitake mushroom vacuum drying process was the objective of this research. In order to produce dried sample with satisfactory shelf life, response surface methodology was used. Vacuum drying used to accomplish the task was previously described by the authors. The samples were dried at 46-74 A degrees C and 20-580 mbar. As quality indicators of dried product, total solids, water activity, total phenolics, IC50 and total color change were used. Response surface methodology resulted in optimal conditions of 57.1 A degrees C and 100 mbar. In order to verify predictions and adequacy of the second-order polynomial models, separate validation experiments were conducted at optimum conditions. The predicted amount of total solids was 85.40 %, while a(w) value was 0.615.