Microwave drying is used in food drying in which the microwaves penetrate the material and converted to heat that allows the removal of the moisture (Drouzas and Schubert, 1996). This technology has many features, such as rapid heating, high efficiency, good controllability and sanitation (Zhang et al., 2010).
CAUTION: Drying clothing, especially large items like shirts, jeans, and bed sheets in the microwave can cause electrical fires. It is NOT recommended.
The ubiquitous microwave, beloved by frozen-dinner connoisseurs everywhere, can do more than defrost; it can also dehydrate. Follow these simple steps to preserve the flavor, color and shelf life of your favorite fruits and herbs without any additional special gadgets.
Microwaves heat up food by bombarding the water molecules with energy. This makes them move around faster and heat up. As the water becomes steam, it can remove moisture from our food, rendering it tough and rubbery. Prevent this from happening by either wrapping or covering your food with a damp towel.
The drying method is based on microwaves penetrating the moist material, where the microwaves are converted into heat. The moisture turns into vapour and is transported from the building using a fan. The microwaves are produced by a magnetron inside the drying machine.
Though microwave retains the nutrients, the texture of food, color, and taste will change, compared to cooking in a stove. It leads to dehydration, as the water content decreases and food are more prone to drying, and the cooked food is sometimes unevenly cooked.
The microwave drying processes at all temperature (100–140 °C) or low microwave power levels (500–700 W) exhibited four periods: a warm-up period, a short constant period, the first and second falling rate period, while one falling rate period was found during hot-air drying.
Drying by microwave energy is an alternate drying method that provides advantages such as high heat conduction to the interior of the dried material, cleaning, energy recovery, energy process control quick start, and termination of the drying process [18].
Microwave ovens shoot tiny waves into the liquid at random locations, causing the water molecules at those points to vibrate rapidly. If the water isn't heated for long enough, the result is isolated pockets of very hot or boiling water amid a larger body of water that's cooler.
How to Dry Strawberries in a Microwave. If you don't have an appliance dedicated to dehydrating then the defrost setting on your microwave may come in handy. Using the defrost setting is a simple way to dehydrate thinly sliced fruit in just 30 minutes.
Use Your Oven
It's remarkably easy to dehydrate fruits and veggies in the oven. Just turn it to the lowest setting, cut your fruit and veg into ¼ inch slices, and put them in the oven on a lined sheet pan for as long as they need, usually 6 to 8 hours.
And a microwave isn't ventilated well either. You will end up with clothes that are very hot and damp. But if you really want to, microwave on the lowest power setting and microwave for 45 seconds. Then open the door for 20 seconds to ventilate and let it cool down, then repeat the process until they are dry.
Many people think microwaved chicken is dry and chewy. In reality, microwaving chicken breast in an Anyday dish yields juicy, tender chicken. Compared to cooking chicken on the stovetop or in the oven, the microwave does the job much faster.
Drying the Meat
Place the slices close together, but not touching or overlapping. Place the racks in a dehydrator or oven preheated to 140ºF. Dry until a test piece cracks but does not break when it is bent (10 to 24 hours for samples not heated in marinade). Samples heated in marinade will dry faster.
Some disadvantages of dehydrating food include high energy costs, limited food capacity in most food dehydrators, and the potential for flavor mixing. Additionally, dehydrating food is a time-consuming process that results in vitamin loss and lower quality food texture.
Foods can be dried in the sun, in an oven, or in a food dehydrator by using the right combination of warm temperatures, low humidity, and air current. The optimum temperature for drying food is 140 °F. If higher temperatures are used, the food will cook instead of drying.
In general, household microwaves have a power of about 700 watts. This results in a maximum temperature of about 100 degrees Celsius. However, some commercial microwaves can have a power of up to 3,000 watts. These microwaves can reach temperatures of up to 250 degrees Celsius.
The damaging effects of MW radiation on the brain include brain dysfunction and brain structural damage. An epidemiological survey found that MW radiation caused human fatigue, headache, excitement, dreams, memory loss and other symptoms of neurasthenia [20].