Physicochemical and Organoleptic Characteristics of Dehydrated Apricots under Different Drying Conditions.
The main issue of Gilgit-Baltistan is food insecurity as cultivated lands are less than one kanal per
capita. The people of GB totally depend on wheat supplied through Government on subsidized rates form Punjab.3-5 Apricot is one of the most important, attractive, delicious, highly nutritious and major fruits of Gilgit-Baltistan. The fruit tree grows from plain to altitude of 3000 meters. The fruit is having a distinct pleasant aroma and is used for preparing many products including jam and nectar. The dried fruit is available in the market round the year, while the fresh fruit comes in the market by the end of May to September. Due to lack of processing, preservation, testing, transportation, communication and research large amount of fruits and vegetables.
Fiber also adds bulk to the food and prevents the intake of excess starchy food and may therefore guard against metabolic conditions such as hypercholesterolemia and diabetes mellitus. Fiber can also help to keep blood sugar levels under control. Moveable solar dehydrated and open sun dehydrated apricot samples had higher proximate analysis values due to removal of moisture.
Taste and texture of the both dehydration methods remains same. There was a clear difference shown in mean scores of color, appearance and overall acceptability of samples. The open sun dehydrated apricot has a less attractive color, appearance and overall acceptability as compared to portable and moveable solar drier dehydrated apricot that have high scores in color, appearance and overall acceptability. The dehydration completed in open sun in 9 days interval and in moveable solar drier it dehydrated in only 2 days interval.
Adv Food Technol Nutr Sci Open J. 2016; 2(1): 3-8. doi:10.17140/AFTNSOJ-2-125
