Table 4.

Reconstitution properties of beetroot powder under varying drying condition and slice thickness.

Drying parameter		Slice thickness (mm)	WAI (g/g of dry matter)	WSI (%)
Power level (W)	Vacuum (mm Hg)
Microwave vacuum drying
160	710	1	11.99 ± 1.65ᵃ	48.47 ± 0.36ᶜ
320	710	1	9.07 ± 0.06ᶜ	62.42 ± 0.57ᵇ
160	660	1	10.83 ± 0.06ᵇ	50.46 ± 0.47ᶜ
320	660	1	8.68 ± 0.04ᶜ	64.09 ± 1.37ᵇ
160	610	1	9.95 ± 0.04ᵇ	52.46 ± 0.40ᶜ
320	610	1	7.57 ± 0.12ᶜ	64.58 ± 5.81ᵇ
160	710	2	13.59 ± 1.89ᵃ	40.65 ± 0.14ᶜ
320	710	2	10.07 ± 0.05ᵇ	54.16 ± 0.81ᵇ
160	660	2	13.77 ± 0.30ᵃ	44.49 ± 0.16ᶜ
320	660	2	9.61 ± 0.08ᵇ	53.27 ± 0.38ᵇ
160	610	2	11.35 ± 0.20ᵇ	46.57 ± 0.68ᶜ
320	610	2	8.24 ± 0.14ᶜ	59.12 ± 0.56ᵇ
Freeze drying (0.062 mbar, −40 °C)		1	10.34 ± 1.11ᵇ	55.53 ± 1.01ᶜ
		2	13.49 ± 0.35ᵃ	44.67 ± 2.52ᶜ

Different superscript small letters in each column denote significant difference at p ≤ 0.05.