Page 6 - Use of Geothermal Energy in Food Drying

1. DRYING FOOD
L ke all l v ng th ngs, m croorgan sms, wh ch are small creatures that can be seen w th
an nv s ble m croscope, also need water n order to carry out the r v tal act v t es. Even f all v tal

factors are present, they cannot be act ve n the absence of suffic ent water, thus prevent ng the
deter orat on of foodstuffs. The dry ng process s defined as the process of remov ng the water n

the food content by var ous methods n order to prevent spo lage n the food and to preserve t for
a longer t me.

S nce anc ent t mes, people have benefited from solar energy as a dry ng method. However,
th s method br ngs w th t many problems, espec ally contam nat ons (an mal dropp ngs, dust, etc.).
The fact that t s not poss ble to dry by us ng the sun's heat everywhere and at all t mes,

exposure to external factors (dust, nsects, etc.), fermentat on (fermentat on) r sks that may occur
w th dry ng have led people to research art fic al dry ng techn ques. Prov d ng dry ng process

n a shorter t me w th art fic al dry ng and allow ng homogeneous dry ng of all parts of the product
encouraged the use of solar and hot a r dryers.

2. DRYING METHODS

2.1. Natural Dry ng
In natural dry ng, the source of dry ng food s usually the sun and t s also called solar dry ng.

Th s method, wh ch has been used s nce anc ent t mes, has been used n the dry ng of fish, meat,
gra ns and legumes, and h gh qual ty products have been obta ned. In many reg ons of our country,

natural methods are st ll used for dry ng vegetables such as tomatoes and peppers.
The natural dry ng method s a cheap, easy and common method among ts advantages.

However, the slow dry ng rate and the r sk of exposure to external factors such as dust, sand and
nsect res dues can be shown as d sadvantages of th s method.

P cture 1.2: Dry ng of food w th solar energy

1