Patent ID: 8187655

Claim:
A method of dehydrating intact plant or animal tissue or pieces thereof, said tissue containing at least 30 wt. % of water, the method comprising: (i) contacting the intact tissue with a pressurised gas to reduce the water content of the tissue by at least 50%, said pressurised gas having a pressure of at least 0.5×P, and a temperature of at least T c -60° C., P c representing the critical pressure of the gas and T c representing the critical temperature of the gas, (ii) separating the pressurised gas from the dehydrated tissue, (iii) drying the pressurised gas by removal of water contained therein, and (iv) recirculating the dried pressurised gas to the intact plant or animal tissue, wherein the dehydrated tissue contain less than 20 wt. % water and at least 80 wt. % of the matter removed by the pressurised gas from the intact plant or animal tissue is water and, wherein the dehydrated tissue has a rehydration ratio of greater than 3.