Effect of various pretreatments on quality of osmo-convectively dehydrated carrot shreds

Abstract

Carrot is a very popular root crop grown all over the world for its delicious edible roots. Dehydration is most useful technique to prepare shelf stable products with longer shelf life. Osmotic dehydration is preferred over other drying methods due to its quality retention value in final product. Mass transfer phenomenon is affected due to different pre-treatments before osmosis. Therefore various pretreatments such as steam blanching, freezing and thawing were carried out before osmotic dehydration. Solid gain, water loss, texture and color were determined in order to evaluate effect of pretreatments on osmoconvectively dehydrated carrot shreds. Investigation of pretreatments on osmo-convectively dehydrated carrot shreds enhanced sugar gain and water loss before osmotic dehydration. Solid gain increased (34.34-40.66), while Water loss (20.30-27.39). Texture of osmo-convectively dehydrated shreds was found between 4.503 to 7.582 N. All sensory parameters were higher for steam blanching than other pre-treatment. Non-significant difference was observed for refrigerated and ambient thawing on the overall acceptability of carrot shreds.