Effect of hot air drying on quality characteristics and physicochemical properties of bee pollen

Abstract The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of hot air drying on quality characteristics, physicochemical properties, morphological structure and organoleptic characteristics of bee pollen, and compute the effective moisture diffusivity and activation energy during hot air drying of bee pollen. Bee pollen samples were dried at 40, 45, 50, 55 and 60 °C. Effective moisture diffusivity (Deff) values ranged from 1.38 × 10 −10 to 4.00 × 10−10 m2/s, and the activation energy (Ea) was found to be 42.96 kJ/mol. Protein, fat, total carbohydrates and vitamin C of bee pollen were...