Rehydration characteristics of freeze-dried avocado (Persea americana)

The avocado is a tropical fruit whose nutritional value is due mainly to its high lipid content. The aim of this work was to evaluate the rehydration of freeze-dried avocado (variety Collinson) powder and slices. The rehydration kinetics was determined using an experimental apparatus that monitored the volume of water absorbed by the sample with the time. Peleg and Weibull equations were used to describe the rehydration kinetics. The texture (hardness) of fresh, freeze-dried and rehydrated avocado was measured using a texture analyser. Freeze-dried avocado had high water absorption capacity and rate. Weibull’s equation was successfully applied to experimental data and the corresponding parameters were obtained and correlated with samples geometry. Freeze-dried and rehydrated samples were harder and softer, respectively, than fresh