Effects of pre-treatments and drying temperatures on the quality of dried green peas

Abstract

The freshly harvested green peas procured from local market were cleaned and\rsorted. The average moisture content of the fresh green peas was found 70 to 75 per cent on wet\rbasis. Three different samples of green peas with respect to pre-treatments viz., raw, blanched and\rblanched after pricking were taken for drying experiment. A laboratory model tray dryer was used\rfor drying green peas with different levels of drying air temperatures (50, 60, 700C). Drying time,\rmoisture reduction was calculated later with the help of observed data during tray drying. The\rdried green pea samples were taken for quality evaluation by sensory method, rehydration of final\rproduct was also carried out. Survey results underlined the need of technological intervention at\rvarious stages of post-harvest processing of green peas in this region. Drying of blanched green\rpeas after pricking at 500C drying air temperature resulted in shorter drying time to produce best\rquality dried product as compared to raw and blanched green peas. The dried green peas with final\rmoisture content 7.52 per cent on wet basis showed best rehydration characteristics to yield good\rquality rehydrated peas which could be preserved and used during off-season.