The relationship between shrinkage during drying and 'glass'-'rubber' transitions of apple tissue was studied. Our results did not indicate that structural collapse of apple pieces can be reduced by diminishing the difference AT between drying temperature and glass transition temperature (T(g)) of the fruit matrix. Apple shrinkage was not consistently depressed by reducing drying temperature, infusing larger amounts of T(g)-depressing agents (sucrose, maltose, lactose) or infusing similar amounts of solutes with higher anhydrous T(g)s. However, sugars added during osmotic dehydration pretreatments help decreasing structural collapse during subsequent air drying, which was reflected by a 20-65% increase in final volume of samples treated with 50% sucrose and maltose solutions as compared to an air-dried, control sample. Dried samples remained in the 'rubbery' state after drying and shrunk during subsequent storage.