Effect of pretreatments and drying characteristics of potato sticks under open sun drying

Abstract

The present investigation was carried out to study the effect of pre-treatment on drying kinetics and under open sun drying of potato sticks. The washed & potato was sliced and treated with five pre-treatments first is control (T1), blanching Citric acid @ 0.5% (T2), blanching Potassium meta-bisulphate @ 0.5% (T3), blanching Citric acid 0.5% + Potassium meta-bisulphate @ 0.5% (T4), Blanching (3-4 min) at 95 °C (T5) and dried under sun drying. During sun drying, control treated samples took 10 hour to dry and moisture content (db %) was ranged from 497.01 to 8.67 and drying rate was ranged from 1.33 to 0.14. Citric acid treated sample took 11 hour to dry completely and moisture content (db %) was ranged from 497.01 to 6.67 and drying rate was ranged from 1.32 to 0.04. Potassium meta- bisulphate treated sample took 11 hour to dry completely and moisture content (db %) was ranged from 497.01 to 6.50 and drying rate was ranged from 1.39 to 0.05. Citric acid + potassium meta- bisulphate treated sample took 11 hour to dry and moisture content (db %) was ranged from 497.01 to 9.00 and drying rate was ranged from 1.27 to 0.06. Samples blanched at 95 oC took 10 hour to dry and moisture content (db %) was ranged from 497.01 to 9.48 and drying rate was ranged from 1.69 to 0.13.