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 rehy

dration water volume entering the unit-volume vacuum chamber was 0.013 5 mL/cm

3

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.