Vol. 11, Issue 2 (2022)

Author(s):
Shahista Parveen, Jameel Jhalegar, Deepa Terdal, Noorulla Haveri and Ambresh

Abstract:
Onion is a commercial crop of our country, belongs to the family Alliaceae. It is used for both internal consumption and foreign exchange. The more pungent varieties of onion appear to possess the greatest concentration of health promoting phytochemicals i.e. phenolics and flavonoids that have potential anti-inflammatory, anti-cholesterol, anti-cancer and antioxidant properties which protect against stomach and different types of cancers, improve lung function, especially in asthmatics. Besides this, it is a delicate commodity to store because of higher water content and serious losses occurring due to rotting, sprouting, physiological loss in weight and moisture evaporation. So an experiment was conducted entitled with “Studies on standardization of different drying methods and packaging materials for processing of onion (Allium cepa L.) into powder” was conducted in the Department of Post Harvest Technology, COH, Bagalkote, Karnataka during the year 2020-21. In the experiment, onion powder showed significantly minimum moisture percentage, water activity, bulk density, tapped density, hygroscopicity, hausner ratio and particle size i.e. (4.92%), (0.21), (0.36 g/cm³), (0.47 g/mL), (25.04%), (0.86) and (417.5 µm) and the maximum rehydration ratio, water soluble index, powder recovery, and particle density were found in freeze drying (T₄) (5.05), (80.79), (11.30%) and (2.45 g/mL) respectively_. Besides it also retained maximum content of minerals (Ca, Mg, S, K, Fe, Mn, Cu and Zn) was seen in freeze drying (SANVAC^®).