Post-harvest profile, processing and value addition of dried red chillies (Capsicum annum L.).

Chilli has dominated and retained an important place amongst the spices worldwide. They are dried ripe fruits intuitively consumed as a spice, condiment, culinary, and medicinal purposes. The global consumption pattern is intriguing because of the inherent pungency, aroma, taste, spicy flavour, and therapeutic properties. Predominantly, the colour and pungency decide the quality features and are actively responsible for organized marketing and trade of the dried chillies. India is one of the leading producers and exporters of chilli. The chemical composition of the chillies varies substantially with agro-climatic zones and post-harvest management strategies. The quantum of post-harvest loss of 25-35% hampers the farmer's income and affects the wholesale/retail marketing. This review paper is intended to provide a deep insight into the advancements in various post-harvest unit operations of dried red chillies. A detailed overview of post-harvest operations (drying, grading, destalking, packaging, storage) and processing techniques for value-added products (chilli powder, dried flakes, seeds, oleoresin) is discussed in this paper. The presented information will help the researchers and the industry personnel engaged in the post-harvest processing and value addition of dried red chillies.

Response surface optimization of process parameters for preparation of cellulose nanocrystal stabilized nanosulphur suspension.

This study employed response surface methodology (RSM) to optimize various parameters involved in the synthesis of nanosulphur (NS) stabilized by cellulose nanocrystals (CNCs). The elemental sulphur (ES) mixed with CNCs was processed in a high-pressure homogenizer to make a stable formulation of CNC-stabilized NS (CNC-NS). RSM was adopted to formulate the experiments using Box-Behnken design (BBD) by considering three independent variables i.e., ES (5, 10, 15 g), CNCs (25, 50, 75 ml), and the number of passes (NP) in the high-pressure homogenizer (1, 2, 3). For the prepared suspensions (CNC-NS), the range of the responses viz. settling time (0.84-20.60 min), particle size (500.41-1432.62 nm), viscosity (29.20-420.60 cP), and surface tension (60.35-73.61 N/m) were observed. The numerical optimization technique was followed by keeping the independent and dependent factors in the range yielded in the optimized solution viz. 46 ml (CNCs), 8 g (ES), and 2 (NP). It was interpreted from the findings that the stability of the suspension had a positive correlation with the amount of CNC while the increasing proportion of ES resulted in reduced stability. The quadratic model was fitted adequately to all the responses as justified with the higher coefficient of determination (R2 ≥ 0.88). The characterization performed by X-ray diffraction (XRD), zeta potential, Raman spectroscopy, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) revealed better-stabilizing properties of the optimized CNCs-ES suspension. The study confirmed that CNCs have the potential to be utilized as a stabilizing agent in synthesizing stable nanosulphur formulation by high-pressure homogenization.

Destalking of dry red chillies (Capsicum annum L.) and its characterization.

Abstract: The prevalent manual destalking of dried red chillies is a labour-intensive, tedious, and unhealthy practice that can cause severe health ailments to the labourers. This study focuses on the design and fabrication of a mechanized system for removing stalks from dried chillies to reduce the drudgery involved in manual operation. The machine's primary components including hopper, rotating cylinder, triangular bridges, cutting blades, destalked chilli outlet, and stalk outlet were fabricated based on the design considerations and ease of operation. The machine was evaluated considering the independent parameters viz. feed rate, cylinder speed, and cylinder inclination for optimization of its performance using one-factor-at-a-time statistical design. Physical properties of chillies, destalking efficiency of the machine, and the effect of destalking on powder characteristics were determined. Optimal performance of the machine was achieved with the chillies having 8-10% (moisture), 6.5 kg/h (feed rate), 20 rpm (cylinder's speed), and 3° (cylinder's inclination) with destalking efficiency of 85-87%. The evaluation of powder characteristics also revealed the prominence of destalking with enhanced colour attributes. The developed machine is compact, efficient, economical, requires less labour and thereby it may encourage its adoption at the farmer's level and strengthening of the value chain of dried chillies.

Recent Advances in Novel Packaging Technologies for Shelf-Life Extension of Guava Fruits for Retaining Health Benefits for Longer Duration.

Guava (Psidium guajava L.) fruit is also known as the apple of tropics, belongs to the family of genus Psidium, and is widely cultivated in tropical zones of the world. Recently, the importance of guava fruit has increased due to its inherent nutritional content, pleasant aroma, excellent flavor, and delicious taste. It is considered an excellent source of nutrients and phytochemicals. Guava is a climacteric fruit that continues to mature or ripen even after harvest, showing an increase in the rate of respiration and metabolic activities within a short period, leading to rapid senescence or spoilage of fruit. It has limitations in terms of commercialization due to short storage life after harvest and sensitivity to diseases and chilling injury during the storage period. Many postharvest technologies such as edible packaging, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), composite packaging, controlled atmosphere packaging (CAP), antimicrobial/antifungal packaging, and nano packaging have been used to retard the chilling injury and enhance the keeping quality of guava fruits during the storage period to control respiration rate, reduce weight loss, minimize lipid oxidation, and maintain organoleptic properties. However, these packaging technologies have varied effects on the internal and external quality attributes of guava fruits. This review, therefore, discusses the physiology, mechanism of ripening, oxidation, and ethylene production of guava fruits. The review also discusses the packaging technologies and their effect on the postharvest characteristics of guava fruits during the storage period.

Development of composite mechanical peeler cum juice extractor for kinnow and sweet orange.

A mechanical peeler cum juice extractor was designed and developed for simultaneous peeling and juice extraction of kinnow and sweet orange fruits. Based on the designed components and prior optimization of operational parameters for peeling of both the fruits, a functional machine was developed. Major components of the machine include spur gear assembly (Φ 102 mm and Φ 76 mm), two fruit holders (Φ 30 mm), revolving shaft with length 570 mm, clearance of the tool for peeling 25 mm and cutting knife with length 80 mm, respectively. This peeler was operated using a motor, gear assembly and the combination of pulleys. The juice extractor was also fitted with a conical hopper having a flattened base to facilitate the juice extraction of peeled fruits. For performance evaluation, fruit rotation speed was considered as independent parameter and was varied at 220, 260, 280, 300, 360 rpm, whereas peeling time (s), peeling efficiency (%), peel remained on fruit (%) and juice loss (%) were taken as dependent parameters. The machine resulted in best performance at fruit rotational speed of 220 rpm (kinnow) and 260 rpm (sweet orange) with higher peeling efficiency and minimum juice loss. The capacity for peeling and juicing operation was 60-90 kg/h (kinnow) and 50-60 kg/h (sweet orange), respectively. This composite peeling cum juice extractor machine can find its applicability in cottage citrus fruit juice processing industries as well as for the domestic juice sellers.

Post-harvest processing and valorization of Kinnow mandarin (Citrus reticulate L.): A review.

Kinnow is a prevalent fruit crop of the mandarin group and belongs to the Rutaceae family. It is nutritionally rich in vitamin C, vitamin B, ß-carotene, calcium, phosphorous and other health beneficing compounds. The fruit is grown commercially for fresh consumption and since the processing techniques are less prominent, a plentiful amount of harvested fruit goes for waxing and grading operations. To reduce the post-harvest losses, appropriate processing techniques need to be followed as considerable fruit waste is generated while processing. The foremost fruit wastes viz. peel and seeds are rich source of bioactive compounds and can be utilized for the extraction of aromatic compounds, essential oils and low-methoxyl pectin. Overall utilization of kinnow and its components through various technological interventions will not only enhance the profitability of processing industries but also assist in reducing the pollution load on the environment. The prevailing bitterness in kinnow juice has constrained its processing, value-addition, popularity and acceptability. Limited work has been done on kinnow processing leaving scarce relevant literature published on the post-harvest management. Efforts made by researchers worldwide, regarding the post-harvest application of kinnow and its by-products for product development, value addition and waste utilization is presented and discussed in this paper. This compiled information is envisioned to encourage the cottage food processing units in order to improvise the overall benefits along with achieving complete utilization of kinnow.

Pearl millet based pasta: optimization of extrusion process through response surface methodology.

This study investigated the influence of extrusion operating condition [barrel temperature (BT) (50-90 °C), feed moisture content (FM) (25-35%, w.b.), feeder speed (FS) (8-16 rpm) and screw speed to feeder speed ratio (SS:FS) (8-12)] on quality of pearl millet pasta [cooking time (CT), cooking loss (CL), hydration capacity (HC), swelling capacity (SC), hardness, springiness (SP), chewiness (CH) through response surface methodology (CCRD design)]. The results indicated that raising BT and FM reduced CT, CL, but increased HC, SC, hardness, SP, CH of pearl millet based pasta. HC, SC, hardness, SP and CH of pasta were increased as FS and SS:FS increased, whereas, CT and CL showed decreasing trend. The optimum operating conditions for pear millet based pasta was obtained at BT of 70 °C, FM of 30% (w.b.), FS of 12 rpm and SS:FS ratio of 10 with low CT (≤ 5.25 min), CL (≤ 7.45%) and high HC (≥ 2.30 g g-1), SC (≥ 3.14 ml g-1), good hardness (≥ 11.11 N), SP (≥ 1.24 N) and CH (≥ 6.09 N mm).

Nullifying phosphatidic acid effect and controlling phospholipase D associated browning in litchi pericarp through combinatorial application of hexanal and inositol.

The role of phospholipid modification initiated by phospholipase D (PLD) in enzymatic browning has been revoked through this study. Various alcohols and aldehydes were tried to read out their PLD controlling behaviour. Based on in-vitro results, reagents like hexanal and inositol were used to regulate PLD activity of litchi fruit stored at ambient temperature and their effects on fruit quality and physiological characteristics were also investigated. The results showed that combinatorial chemical treatment was successful in maintaining freshness of fruit through delayed physiological loss in weight and hence maintaining firmness. Combinatorial treated fruit had lower browning index than control by day 7. This novel treatment also maintained comparable levels of total phenolics and lowered the level of malondialdehyde. Evaluation of antioxidative enzymatic profile also confirmed the alleviation of oxidative stress of litchi fruit at ambient temperature. Thus, this strategy of enzyme regulation could play a vital role in overall quality maintenance of litchi fruit.