Authors : Suneeta Singh, Anil Kumar Saxena and Satish Kumar Sharma
Abstract: Present study was undertaken with a view to standardize the technology for the preparation of osmotically dehydrated wild apricots. For this, an experiment was conducted in which apricot fruits of three cultivars namely New Castle, Ranichauri (V1) wild apricot, Ranichauri (V2) and wild apricot, Kanatal (V3) were harvested at optimum maturity, brought to the Post Harvest Technology Lab of the Department, washed and shade dried. The fruits after lye peeling (1.0% NaOH solution in boiling water for 30 sec) were dipped in 70° Brix sugar syrup containing 0.05% KMS for 0-8 h followed by drying in mechanical dehydrator at 55±2°C for 6 h. Result shows that during 8 h of osmotic dipping, about -0.53 to 48.33% weight loss was recorded in different apricot varieties which rose to about 51.33- 78.67% after 6 h of further drying in a mechanical dehydrator. Therefore, 8 h dipping time was found to be the best for effective drying of apricots. Among varieties, the average drying time was minimum (6 h) for wild apricot, Kanatal, i.e., (V3) and the maximum average dried fruit yield of 24.87% was also observed in wild apricot, Kanatal (V3). Also on the basis of sensory evaluation, the product prepared from wild apricot, Kanatal (V3) dipped for 8 h followed by drying in mechanical dehydrator for 6 h was found to be superior over the rest of the products for its overall acceptability.
Suneeta Singh, Anil Kumar Saxena and Satish Kumar Sharma, 2020. Standardization of Technology for Osmotic Dehydration of Wild Apricot (Chulu). Journal of Food Technology, 18: 9-14.