आईएसएसएन: 2376-0354
Laxman Kukanoor, Archana Pattar, Manjula Karadiguddi, Shivanand Rayar and Jaishankar HP
Carrot is a popular cool season crop grown throughout India. It is used as raw as well as cooked form. The preservation methods such as dehydration, canning, and pickling can be successfully adopted to preserve carrot for off-season. Dehydrated carrot in the form of grating can be used in the preparation of halwa, discs made in to chips. Carrot is rich source of vitamin A and is a seasonal crop. To make available in the off season and to exploit the nutritive value of carrot it is necessary to convert into various value added products. Among the different methods of preservation, dehydration is one of the best and cheapest method of preservation. In this regard, a study was conducted to prepare dehydrated carrot slices. The experiment was conducted in completely randomized block design with seven treatments and three replications. The various physical parameters like recovery, time taken for drying, rehydration ratio, dehydration ratio, reconstitution ratio and organoleptic evaluation were carried out. Among the different treatments carrot slices dehydrated without any pretreatment taken minimum time for dehydration (15.10 hrs) whereas carrot slices dehydrated with blanching for 2 minutes + steeping in 40° Brix syrup + 6% salt for 2 hours had taken maximum time for dehydration (18.45 hrs). The highest recovery and lowest dehydration ratio were noticed in carrot slices dehydrated with blanching for 2 minutes + steeping in 40° Brix syrup + 6% salt for 2 hours. The rehydration ratio was found higher (5.04) in the slices steeped 0.75 percent KMS for 2 hours whereas the lowest rehydration ratio (2.59) was found in carrot slices blanched for 2 minutes + steeped in 40° brix syrup + 6% salt for 2 hours. The highest reconstitution ratio (0.57) was found in slices blanched for 2 minutes + steeped in 40° brix syrup+ 6% salt for 2 hours. Higher scores for colour and appearance (4.55), taste (4.43) were recorded in the slices blanched for 2 minutes + steeped in 40° brix syrup + 6% salt for 2 hours (T6) whereas highest score for texture (4.46) and overall acceptability (4.55) were recorded in the slices blanched for 2 minutes + steeped in 300 brix syrup + 6% salt for 2 hours which was on par with T6. It indicated that sugar and salt treatment blends improved the organoleptic qualities (colour, taste and overall acceptability) of the product.