Effect of apple peel based edible coating material on physicochemical properties of button mushrooms (<em>Agaricus bisporus</em>) under ambient condition

Abstract

Button mushroom were coated by dipping in a coating solution for a period of 75s, formulated by dissolving a combination of apple peel powder and CMC into distilled water. A total of nine different combinations with three levels of apple peel powder concentration (1.0, 1.2 and 1.4%w/v) and three levels of CMC concentration (1.2, 1.5 and 1.8%w/v) were used to prepare the coating solution. To analyse the effect of coating materials on physicochemical properties of button mushroom, the physicochemical responses like weight loss, shrinkage ratio, water activity, color variation, microbial load and free radical scavenging activity were assessed. The higher concentration of apple peel powder was resulting in degradation of colour of coated sample during storage due to anthocyanin content of apple peel powder. The moderate concentration of apple peel powder (1.2% w/v) with high level of CMC concentration (1.8% w/v) were found to be the best combination of coating materials which increased the shelf life of button mushroom upto 5 days along with retaining the quality attributes closest to the fresh sample.