Effect of Ethyl Oleate Treatment on Drying of Bitter Gourd

Abstract

Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) is famous for its nutritional and medicinal value and is widely recommended in daily diet. Despite of many advantages, it has not been explored to its potential because of its bitter taste. Proper processing and value addition options of this vegetable is necessary. Drying with appropriate pre-treatments can extend the shelf life and availability of the product for consumption throughout the year. Chemical treatment has been used to improve drying characteristics of many vegetables. The bitter gourd samples were treated with ethyl oleate and subsequently blanched under microwave and tray dried. The drying time could be decreased from 150 to 110min by ethyl oleate treatment and microwave blanching. The effective diffusivity increased from 8.92 x10-8 to 9.73x10-8. The rehydration ratio also improved from 4.88 to 5.21. It also decreased the shrinkage ratio while drying. Ethyl oleate treatment followed by microwave blanching can improve the drying characteristics and quality of bitter gourd for better consumer acceptance and storability.