Vacuum cooling combined with hydrocooling and vacuum drying on bamboo shoots

Vacuum cooling technology is a proven technology widely applied on post-processing of harvested agricultural products. However, there are few researches on its application on root/stem vegetables. Bamboo shoot is a type of root/stem vegetables with high economic value in Taiwan. It is also enjoyed by Taiwanese and Asian people. This study experimented with vacuum cooling in combination with hydrocooling and vacuum drying on harvested bamboo shoots. It intended to discuss the relationships among the temperature of cooling water, the pressure of vacuum chamber, and the temperature of bamboo shoots during these processes. The experimental results showed that multi-stage vacuum pressure reserving technique combined with hydrocooling could reduce the temperature of bamboo shoots efficiently. It has the advantage of minimizing the energy consumed by the vacuum system. In this study, bamboo shoots were treated with vacuum cooling and hydrocooling process, and then vacuum dried to reduce the water content of the surface and bamboo crust. It was proven to prolong the storage time and improve the freshness preserving quality efficiently. The finding provides a possibility of shipping bamboo shoots to nearby countries via sea transportation. As a result, the competitiveness of Taiwan-produced bamboo shoots could be enhanced to an international scale.