Pre-Treatments Maintain the Quality of Banana Flakes

Objective: Pre treatments such as T2 (citric acid 1% + 0.5% haldi +1% salt) and T3 (citric acid 1% + KMS 0.5%) were the most effective to reduce browning and resulted high quality banana flakes. The flakes were evaluated for moisture content, non enzymatic browning and sensory (color, texture and flavour) quality attributes after treatment and during storage.

Study Design: Completely Randomized Block Design (CRD)

Place and Duration of Study: Department of food Science and Postharvest Technology, BAU, Sabour (Bihar) India during March 2013 to August 2015.

Methodology: In this curriculum, banana flakes prepared from different cooking and Table banana cultivars (G-9, Kothiya, Alpan and Batisha,) were subjected to different pre-treatments with citric acid, potassium meta bisulphite, salt and turmeric powder. The flakes were evaluated for moisture content, non enzymatic browning and sensory (color, texture and flavour) quality attributes during storage.

Results and Conclusions: Pre treatments prior to drying decreased the incidence of browning of finished products as compared to control. Pre treatments such as T3 (citric acid 1% + KMS 0.5%) and T2 (citric acid 1% + 0.5% haldi +1% salt) were the most effective to reduce browning and resulted high quality banana flakes. OD at 445 was recorded minimum in all cultivars (Kothiya-0.61, Digha-0.68, Batisha-0.69 and G-9-0.72 against T3. Hence treatment T3 maintained whiter colour than other treaments. From the results, it is suggested that quality banana flakes could be prepared from all the cultivars using theses pre-treatments.