foods Review Comparison of Traditional and Novel Drying Techniques and Its Effect on Quality of Fruits, Vegetables and Aromatic Herbs Ángel Calín-Sánchez 1,* , Leontina Lipan 1 , Marina Cano-Lamadrid 1 , Abdolreza Kharaghani 2 , Klaudia Masztalerz 3 , Ángel A. Carbonell-Barrachina 1 and Adam Figiel 3 1 Agrofood Technology Department, Universidad Miguel Hernández de Elche, 03312 Orihuela, Spain;
[email protected] (L.L.);
[email protected] (M.C.-L.);
[email protected] (Á.A.C.-B.) 2 Thermal Process Engineering, Otto von Guericke University, P.O. 4120, 39016 Magdeburg, Germany;
[email protected] 3 Institute of Agricultural Engineering, Wrocław University of Environmental and Life Sciences, P.O. 37/41, 51-630 Wrocław, Poland;
[email protected] (K.M.); adam.fi
[email protected] (A.F.) * Correspondence:
[email protected]; Tel.: +34-966-749-738 Received: 3 August 2020; Accepted: 4 September 2020; Published: 9 September 2020 Abstract: Drying is known as the best method to preserve fruits, vegetables, and herbs, decreasing not only the raw material volume but also its weight. This results in cheaper transportation and increments the product shelf life, limiting the food waste. Drying involves the application of energy in order to vaporize and mobilize the moisture content within the porous products. During this process, the heat and mass transfer occurs simultaneously. The quality of dehydrated fruits, vegetables, and aromatic herbs is a key problem closely related to the development and optimization of novel drying techniques. This review reports the weaknesses of common drying methods applied for fruits, vegetables, and aromatic herbs and the possible options to improve the quality of dried products using different drying techniques or their combination.