Fruit is very perishable in the storage process and has short of shelf-life. To extend the shelf life, fruits need preservation process. Drying is generally acknowledged as a cost-effective and commonly used technique for preserving food by reducing post-harvest losses. The major challenge of drying fresh foods and agricultural products is to reduce the moisture content to an absolute minimum while preserving quality characteristics such as colour, texture, chemical components, and shrinkage. The vacuum drying technique has been explored as a possible method for generating high-quality dried food items such as fruits, vegetables, and grains. Microwave vacuum drying is a method that adopts the benefits of microwave drying and vacuum drying, especially enhancing energy efficiency in conjunction with product quality. This article reviews several studies on fruit drying using microwave vacuum drying, including cranberry, apple, dragon fruit, strawberry, Saskatoon berry, and pomegranate. Studies show that drying using microwave vacuum drying saves drying time many times over than conventional drying. The microwave vacuum drying technique can reduce undesired sensory transitions and nutrient loss caused by longer drying times or high surface temperatures. The use of microwave vacuum drying resulted in dried fruit similar to freeze-drying which did not significantly affect the color of the fruit and the phenolic content of the fruit.

One of technology that used for food drying is microwave. The use of microwave drying has resulted in sensory and physical characteristics changes of food. The objective of this article is to review the use of microwave drying on several foodstuff. Microwave drying has a significant difference as compared to the other drying method. As a result of microwave drying, turmeric and giant turmeric had a darker colour as compared to the fresh one. Moreover, black sticky rice processed by microwave drying showed higher moisture content (6.35%) than that using oven drying. An increase in drying rate using a microwave drying was also reported along with the power level used for potato drying (0.18 kg/s in 100 Watt, 0.28 kg/s in 160 Watt, and 0.36 kg/s in 240 Watt). Similar result was also shown on the peanuts drying with various microwave power level, namely 113.93 g/h in 450 W, 168.12 g/h in 674 W, and 225.18 g/s in 900 W (efficiency of 98,87%). The water absorption on various dried foodstuff processed using microwave drying showed the highest valuewhen the highest microwave power level used. Based on microwave drying of pumpkin, edamame, and giant ginger showed that the bulk density with the highest value was found in the highest power treatment. Moreover, study on edamame and giant ginger microwave drying showed and the decrease of oil absorption on the dried product. It can be concluded, microwave drying can increase the drying rate, preserve colour, increase the bulk density, and lower oil absorption as the use of higher power level.