Soaked and Non-Soaked Drying Methods for Vanilla (Vanilla Planofilia L.)

Abstract

Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia L.) belongs to most deserved and important cash-crops in tropical regions. This paper presents the results of testing basic methods of vanilla processing, especially drying and storage. There are well known problems related to mechanical properties while processing and storing. The effects of soaked and non-soaked, conventional drying methods were observed for vanilla. Thus, this paper is focused on equations describing drying behaviors of the material under those two methods. Equations with high confidence intervals were found for describing the drying process. Reducing weight loses while conserving the quality of vanilla will have positive effects for farmers and producers. Results of this study showed that the soaked drying method for vanilla was much better than the non-soaked drying in terms of drying period, energy saving and product quality.