Osmotic dehydration of food involves the utilization of solutions with one or several solutes that increase considerably the viscosity of the liquid phase. As commercial sugar and sodium chloride are the common solutes employed in this type of processes, kinematic viscosities of binary and tertiary aqueous solutions of these solutes were measured at various concentrations (from 0 up to 4.5 mol kg(-1) at 0.5 mol kg(-1) intervals) and temperatures (from 20 up to 50 degreesC). Additionally, densities of each solution at 25 degreesC are reported. Experimental data were simultaneously correlated with concentration and temperature for binary and ternary solutions with a satisfactory accuracy. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.