The nutritional properties of dehydrated green Momordica charantia L. rings after various pre-treatments
S. Vatsyayan1, R. Raina2, N. Dubey3, A. Sharma4 and M. Kumar5
1Amity Institute of Horticulture Studies and Research, Amity University, Sector-125, Noida, Uttar Pradesh- 201313. 2Food and Agriculture Foundation, Amity University, Sector-125, Noida, Uttar Pradesh- 201313. 3Manager-PHM, EYLLP, Panchkula, Haryana. 4Department of Food Science and Technology, Dr. Y S Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan-173230 (H.P.). 5School of Agriculture, IGNOU, New Delhi. Corresponding e-mail: sonalivatsyayan@rediffmail.com
Abstract: Bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) is an important nutrient rich vegetable with plenty of health benefitting phytochemical properties, however the crop has a short shelf life. Dehydrating bitter gourd is a viable option to ensure availability in off-season but preserving the nutritive and medicinal value through the shelf life of dehydrated bitter gourd is a key challenge. The present investigative study was conducted to evaluate the effects of different pre-treatments on fresh green bitter gourd rings for preservation of important nutrient and phytochemical properties in the dehydrated product. The experiment was laid out in factorial completely randomized design with sixteen pre-treatments. Among these sixteen pre-treatments, T16 [Salt Blanching (SB) + Potassium metabisulphite (KMS) + Sodium carbonate (SC) + Guargum (GG)] was the best performing treatment in terms of retention of important nutrient and phytochemical properties which included carotenoids (1.6 mg/100g), phenol (41.2 mg/g), ascorbic acid (78.8 mg/100g), fibre (2.4 %), antioxidant (42.3 %) and charantin (135.8 ?g/g) of green bitter gourd rings after dehydration, followed by T15 [Salt Blanching (SB) + Potassium metabisulphite (KMS) + Guargum (GG)] treatment which retained maximum properties viz. fibre (2.2 %), antioxidant (40.9 %) and charantin (125.5 ?g/g) after dehydration. The economic benefit of dehydrating green bitter gourd rings is also demonstrated by calculating the benefit cost ratio (BCR) which came out to be 1.75:1, making dehydration a preferred and sustainable option. Pre-treatments of green bitter gourd rings improved shelf life and nutritional quality of the product.
