Moisture Contraction of Spanish Peanuts¹

The linear coefficient of moisture contraction for skinned Spanish peanut kernels was determined at 40°C and at 20, 42, 70, and 80% drying air relative humidities. Kernel lengths and diameters were measured optically with a microprojector. Cubical coefficients of moisture contraction were calculated from the linear-coefficients by approximating peanut volume by a prolate spheroid shape. Cubical coefficients ranged from 5.5 to 7.71 × 10^-3 cm³/cm³ % MC and generally increased as drying air relative humidities increased.