To provide an apparatus for drying pickled ume having excellent appearance, sense of touch by teeth and reconstitution properties.

Pickled ume 29 is fed to an endless belt 10 having about 400 mm of width dimension of a belt conveyor 11 under a condition of about 3.75 kg/m2. The pickled ume 29 is irradiated with microwave of about 2,450 MHz frequency for about 6 minutes from three microwave generating means 15 and 15 having 1.7 kW output and subjected to a first drying. A part of water of epicarp on the surface of the pickled ume 29 is evaporated as water vapor, a part of water in the inside of the pickled ume is made into water vapor, tension is applied to the epicarp by internal pressure in a such a degree as not to break the epicarp to make the pickled ume in a round swollen state. The pickled ume 29 is not cooled, immediately transported to a heating and drying chamber 7 and air heated to about 50°C is sent from the lower part to the upper part of the endless belt 10 at about 1 m/second for 16 hours to dry the pickled ume by hot air. Dried pickled ume having excellent reconstitution properties, preservable for a long period of time, having about 13% water content in a spongy state, crispness and excellent sense of touch by teeth when eaten, not changing a flavor, being reconstituted with warm water, Sake, etc., in a short time is obtained.