Comparison of vacuum cooling with conventional cooling for purslane

Vacuum cooling technology is a proven technology widely applied on precooling of leafy vegetables, mushrooms, baked goods, fish, sauces, cooked foods, and particulate foods. Vacuum cooling is known as a rapid evaporative cooling technique for moist and porous products. Vacuum cooling has some advantages, such as shortened processing time, extended product shelf life, and improved product quality and safety. The aim of this paper is to apply the vacuum cooling technique to the cooling of purslane and show the pressure effect (for 0.7 kPa, 1 kPa, 1.5 kPa) on the cooling time and temperature decrease. Another purpose of this article is to compare conventional cooling (cooling by refrigerator) with vacuum cooling. It has been seen that purslane can be cooled much more rapidly and efficiently with vacuum cooling than with conventional cooling. © 2011 De Gruyter. All rights reserved