Experimental Study on the Effect of Different Rehydration Water Volume on Novel Vacuum Sublimation-Rehydration Thawing

The vacuum sublimation-rehydration thawing (VSRT) method, as an innovative approach for thawing, holds promising prospects in the field. To further understand the mechanism of the new vacuum sublimation-rehydration thawing method and optimize its thawing process, fresh pork tenderloin is selected as the research subject, and the effects of rehydration water volume on thawing time, thawing effect, and energy consumption are experimentally investigated and compared with those of the traditional vacuum steam thawing (VST) method. The results showed that the rehydration water volume had an important effect on heat and mass transfer in the rehydration stage, and the thawing performance varied significantly under different rehydration water volumes. When the rehydration water volume entering the unit-volume vacuum chamber was 0.0135 mL/cm³, the thawing efficiency, energy consumption, and thawed product quality simultaneously reached the optimal state. Compared with using the VST method, when using the VSRT method, the thawing time could be shortened by 55% and the thawing loss, total color difference, and system-specific energy consumption could be reduced by 85%, 77%, and 47%, respectively. Moreover, excellent texture parameters could be maintained.