Practical Application of Novel Semi-dried Fruit Prepared by Microwave Irradiation Pretreatment and Hot Air Drying

We developed a method to produce high-quality semi-dried fruits by microwave irradiation pretreatment followed by hot air drying. The dissemination of this method has resulted in the increased commercialization of some fruits. This method can produce various varieties of semi-dried Japanese pears with unique colors and textures. In addition, unripe Japanese pears harvested about 2 weeks before usual can be used to produce semi-dried fruit. The use of unripe fruit in our method enables growers to utilize fruits that are often affected by typhoon-related fruit drop and lengthens the processing period during each year. Newly developed grape cultivars such as "Shine Muscat" and "Oriental Star" have processing characteristics suitable for our method: they are thin-skinned and the skin does not easily slip off. Our method can be used to produce semi-dried grapes in the shape of berries that remain attached to the stems; this presentation of dried fruit is preferred by customers. Furthermore, semi-dried fruits produced by our method are used in other foods, such as confections and jam.