Abstract: The bay scallop columns were chosen as raw materials,the quality of scallop under different hot air temperature and salt content were analyzed. The textural properties,color,shrinkage and rehydration were selected as indicators to determine the optimization of the hot air processing on bay scallop,also,the changes of water content and water activity during the drying process were studied. Results showed there were significant differences on water content and water activity among different hot air temperature and salt content,and the quality of bay scallop was the best under the hot air temperature of 55℃ with the water content of 20.0%±1.6%in the end. There were significant differences among textural properties,color dates and rehydration except for shrinkage. Meanwhile,the textural properties,color dates with 3% salt content were better than other salt concentration. Taking the hot air drying temperature and salt content on the quality of bay scallop during hot drying into consideration,the optimal hot air drying condition was obtained,with hot air drying of 55℃,salt content of 3% and the hot air drying time of 8h.