Kinetics of Shrinkage of Mushrooms during Blanching

Kinetics of shrinkage of mushroom tissue and whole mushrooms was investigated. Shrinkage of tissue was found to be described by three apparent first order reactions, consisting of an initial slow phase, a second rapid phase, and a third slow phase. The duration of each phase depended on temperature. The major part of the shrinkage took place during the rapid shrinkage period. Activation energies during this phase were 18.25 Kcal mole−1 and 16.80 Kcal mole−1 for mass and volume shrinkage, respectively. Results for whole mushrooms were consistent with those for tissue.