Abstract:
This study was conducted to determine the effect of osmotic treatment, drying method and
storage period on chemical composition, sensory and nutritional properties of banana
chips. Banana chips were prepared by open sun and oven drying methods after treating
the fruit in 300
Brix and 600
Brix sugar syrup for 18 hours. Completely Randomized Design
was used with three factor arrangement (3x2x4) and analyzed by SAS 9.1. Chips were
stored for at room 90 days and analyzed for chemical composition, mineral content and
sensory attributes after every 30th day’s interval. A significant interaction effect of
osmotic treatments, drying methods and storage period was observed during storage.
Osmotic treatments were found to yield banana chips having better consumer acceptance
compared to banana chips prepared from untreated banana slices, as judged by penalists
using five Hedonic Scale. The chips prepared after osmotic treatments retained “good”
acceptance score at room temperature even up to 90 days of storage. Though oven drying
was found better for sensory attributes, sun dried products with osmotic treatments
ranked well. In the banana chips the initial potassium, calcium and iron content ranged
from 329.6-411.72 mg/100 g, 23.93-42.22 mg/100 g and 1.12-4.69 mg/100 g respectively.
However, during storage the mineral content decreased at the end of 90 day’s storage.
The crude protein, crude fat, crude fiber, ash and pH decreased with advancement of
storage period, whereas titratable acidity, reducing sugar, total sugar, non-reducing
sugar and total soluble solid significantly increased with increase in storage period.
