investigating the effect of temperature and air flow rate on drying of mazafati date by cabinet drier

mazafati date is a wet and semi-dried date fruit type with dark red to black color that has premier quality. because of its high moisture content, date fruits of this variety are very perishable at room temperature and therefore must be refrigerated during storage. in this study, effect of air temperature (50, 60, 70, 80 and 90 ˚c) and air flow rate (1, 1.5 and 2 m/s) in hot air drying of mazafati date were investigated. the results showed that for all samples, drying occurred at the falling rate stage of drying and the main factor affecting the drying rate was air temperature. air flow rate did not have significant effect on drying rate. overall, it was concluded that moisture of mazafati dates can be reduced by cabinet drying and therefore using drying process, the need for their cold storage can be eliminated.