Physicochemical properties of cherry tomato dried using the conventional hot air (HA) and superheated steam (SHS) combined with either HA or far-infrared (FIR) were measured to evaluate the effects of combined drying process on the product quality. Conventional HA drying caused the greater extent of water removal than that of SHS combined with HA or FIR due to comparatively its longer drying time, resulting the lower water activity. Total acidity of cherry tomato produced by combined drying processes was slightly lower than that of conventional HA drying. Application of SHS combined with FIR resulted in higher retention of vitamin C and lycopene content with faster rehydration capacity than those of both conventional HA and SHS with HA drying. These results suggested that SHS combined with FIR would replace the conventional HA drying process successfully in production of dried cherry tomato with appropriate quality characteristics

• Ye-Joo Park(Dept. of Food Science and Biotechnology, Kyonggi Univ., Suwon, Korea.)
• Jin-Sol Lee(Dept. of Food Science and Biotechnology, Kyonggi Univ., Suwon, Korea.)
• Seong-Su Park(Dept. of Food Science and Biotechnology, Kyonggi Univ., Suwon, Korea.)
• Jae-Eun Choi(Dept. of Food Science and Biotechnology, Kyonggi Univ., Suwon, Korea.)
• Eun-Jung Kang(Dept. of Food Science and Biotechnology, Kyonggi Univ., Suwon, Korea.)
• Jae-Kwon Lee(Dept. of Food Science and Biotechnology, Kyonggi Univ., Suwon, Korea.)