THIN LAYER DRYING OF PUMPKIN AND DEVELOPMENT OF PUMPKIN POWDER ENRICHED CAKE AND NOODLES

Abstract

The study was conducted in postharvest laboratory and agricultural engineering laboratory of Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University during September to December in 2021. This study aimed to determine drying kinetics and develop pumpkin powder enriched cake and noodles. For this study two drying method sun drying and air oven drying were followed and three pretreatments control, blanching and sulphitation were used for drying of pumpkin slices. Four levels of blanched air oven dried pumpkin powder 0%, 5%, 10%, 20% as substitute of wheat flour were used for cake and noodles production. The experiment was conducted by Completely Randomized Design with three replications. From the result it was found that air oven drying provided faster drying over sun drying and through blanching pre-treatment found faster lower moisture ratio over others. As there was no significant difference found in proximate composition as quality analysis from pretreated and controlled sun and air oven dried pumpkin powder, four levels of blanched air oven dried pumpkin powder substitute of wheat flour were used for product development. From Sensory evaluation it was found that the panelists preferred 10% wheat flour substituted pumpkin powder enriched cake and noodles. This study revealed that drying is an effective way to preserve pumpkin and there is an opportunity to develop different bakery items by using 10% level of pumpkin powder as substitute of wheat flour.