The apparent diffusion coefficients for sucrose and water during osmotic dehydration of jenipapos were determined. Long time experiments (up to 60 h) were carried out in order to determine equilibrium concentrations inside jenipapos, whereas short time experiments (up to 4 h) were performed to provide detailed information on kinetics of water loss and solids gain at the beginning of osmotic treatment. According to the results, mass transfer rates for water and solutes, as well as the apparent diffusion coefficients for sucrose showed to be dependent on sucrose concentration in osmotic solution. The immersion time did not have significant effect (P > 0.05) over the diffusion coefficients for sucrose and water. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.