Nwosu, C., Adejumo, O. A., Adamade, C. A., Ozumba, I. C., Ogunjirin, O. A. and Oyedokun, J. A.
National Centre for Agricultural Mechanization (NCAM), P.M.B. 1525, Ilorin, Kwara State
DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.13121301
ABSTRACT
Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) is a tropical and sub-tropical vegetable crop, usually desired both during its peak season in its fresh form and during the off-peak season in its dried form. Discoloration during thermal drying of okra often results in its reduced acceptability in dried form. This study investigated some quality parameters of differently dried okra slices. The okra slices were subjected to freeze-drying at -420 ºC, sun drying at 41 ºC and cabinet drying at 60 ºC, while slices pretreated with aloe vera gel were also subjected to sun drying and cabinet drying at 60 ºC. Fresh and dried samples were analyzed for moisture content, reconstitution index and colour retention. Results of the analysis was subjected to statistical analysis using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Results showed that the freeze-dried samples had the lowest moisture content (6.33) while the aloe vera treated samples generally had significantly higher moisture content among all the dried samples. The result further showed that the reconstitution index of the samples ranged from 0.72 for cabinet dried aloe vera treated samples to 0.63 for untreated sundried samples but was not significantly different from each other. The greenness of the fresh okra pods ranged from -12.70 to -13.76 while -4.62, -6.58, -8.51, -5.70 and -8.20 were reported for freeze-dried, untreated sundried, untreated cabinet dried, aloe vera treated sundried and aloe vera treated cabinet dried samples respectively. The untreated cabinet dried samples had the highest lightness (a*) value (-8.51) among all the dried samples but was significantly indifferent (p≤ 0.05) from cabinet dried aloe vera treated samples which had a value of -8.20. Results further showed that all the dried samples except the sundried aloe vera treated samples scored above average in terms of colour retention. It was concluded that for the food industry, sundried and cabinet dried untreated okra slices as well as cabinet dried aloe vera treated okra slices may be equally acceptable in terms of colour. It is recommended that steam blanching as a pretreatment to cabinet and sun drying should be studied.
KEYWORDS: Okra, Aloe vera, Drying, Colour