BLANCHING OF VEGETABLES

Name: T.L.V.Peiris
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Student Number:
GS/Msc/Food/3630/08
University of Sri Jayewardenepura
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1. DETERMINATION OF BLANCHING TIME OF VEGETABLES:

INTRODUCTION:

This experiment was carried out to determine the blanching time of vegetables. Blanching
is an essential step of heat processing used for agricultural products. Fruits and vegetables
are blanched prior to canning, freezing and dehydration. The aims of blanching are to
inactivate the native enzymes and to destroy enzyme substrates such as peroxides to reduce
the microbial load in the food and raw material, to soften and shrink the food facilitating
the filling into containers expel cellular gases thereby reducing can corrosion and improve
the texture particularly of hydrated foods. Over blanching damages the texture of the
product.

Blanching is effected by heating the food rapidly to a selected temperature and holding the
food at this temperature for a specific time to inactivate the enzymes followed by rapid
cooling. Two methods are commonly used for blanching as hot water blanching and steam
blanching.

Blanching is the scalding of vegetables in boiling water or steam. Blanching slows or stops
the action of enzymes. Up until harvest time, enzymes cause vegetables to grow and
mature. If vegetables are not blanched, or blanching is not long enough, the enzymes
continue to be active during frozen storage causing off-colors, off-flavors and toughening

Blanching time is crucial and varies with the vegetable and size of the pieces to be frozen.
Under blanching speeds up the activity of enzymes and is worse than no blanching. Over
blanching causes loss of flavor, color, vitamins and minerals.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

MATERIALS:

Petri dishes
Wire baskets
Knife and a chopping board
Carrot

METHOD:

Six samples of sliced Carrot each containing about 10g of the sample of vegetable were
dipped in hot water (750C – 1000C) using the wire baskets varying the time immersion time
in hot water as 1min, , 2min, 2.5min, 3min, 4min, and 5min and followed by rapid cooling
in cold water. Then the peroxide test was carried out to find the minimum blanching time.

Peroxide Test: The blanched sample was placed in a Petri dish and about 2 ml of 4% p-
toludine solution was added to the sample and 2-3 drops of 20 volume hydrogen peroxide.
And observed for development of brown colour on samples.
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Un-blanched Blanched Samples

Sample 1 min. 1 ½ min. 2 min. 2 ½ min. 3 min.
Browning only Sight brown Sight brown Sight brown No brown No brown
outer edges colour was colour was colour was colour colour
oberved oberved oberved

Conclusion

According to above results the best/minimum blanching time for carrot is 2.5 mins

DISCUSSION:

Blanching time depend on the type of vegetable, growing area and condition, size of the
piece, enzyme concentration and distribution pattern, maturity stage. Blanching is a
cooking technique involving boiling food (usually vegetables and fruits) in water for a very
short time. Blanching is often followed by plunging the food into cold water to stop the
cooking process. Though the word means to make something white or pale, blanching
certain vegetables will make their colors more vivid. Blanching is commonly used to
remove skins from tomatoes and almonds.

Vegetables are often blanched prior to freezing or canning. This helps preserve the food by
slowing down or halting enzyme action that causes foods to break down, losing color,
flavor, and nutritional value.

Blanching is similar to parboiling, which also involves boiling food briefly in water.
Certain vegetables may benefit from being blanched or parboiled before being stir-fried..

2. DEHYDRATION OF VEGETABLES:

INTRODUCTION:

This experiment was carried out to dehydrate the vegetables. Food dehydration refers to the
nearly complete removal of water from the food under controlled conditions that cause
minimum or ideally no other changes in the food properties. A major criterion of the
quality of dehydrated food is that when reconstituted the addition of water they are very
close to or virtually indistinguishable from the original food material used in their
preparation. During dehydration, food does not lose water at a constant rate. As drying
progresses, the rate of water removal under any set of fixed conditions drops off.

Bacteria and micro-organisms within the food and from the air need the water in the food
to grow. Drying effectively prevents them from surviving in the food. It also creates a hard
outer-layer, helping to stop micro-organisms from entering the food.
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One of the oldest methods of food preservation is by drying, which reduces water activity
sufficiently to delay or prevent bacterial growth. Most types of meat can be dried. This is
especially valuable in the case of pork, since it is difficult to keep without preservation.
Many fruits can also be dried; for example, the process is often applied to apples, pears,
bananas, mangoes, papaya, apricot, and coconut. Zante currants, sultanas and raisins are all
forms of dried grapes. Drying is also the normal means of preservation for cereal grains
such as wheat, maize, oats, barley, rice, millet and rye.

Vacuum-packing stores food in a vacuum environment, usually in an air-tight bag or bottle.

The vacuum environment strips bacteria of oxygen needed for survival, hence preventing
the food from spoiling. Vacuum-packing is commonly used for storing nut

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

MATERIALS:

Oven
Cutting board and knife
Balances
Drying trays
Pans
Strainers
Vegetable- Carrot
Sodium Meta bi-sulphite

METHOD:

Fresh vegetables
↓
Selected, Graded
↓
Washed, Cleaned
↓
Sliced
↓
Blanched, Sulphited (Dipped in 1% SMS cold water for 1-2 min)
↓
Put in to cold water
↓
Drained and put in to trays
↓
Dried (600C)
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↓
Stored for moisture equilibrium
↓
Weighed
↓
Packed (Normal)
↓
Final product

The samples were prepared as the above flow diagram and kept for drying at 550C in the
dry oven. Another sample of 10g was kept under the same conditions to determine moisture
content by weighing at each ½ hour intervals to draw the drying curve. At the same time
three more samples each containing 5g of above sample were kept in the oven at 1050C for
3 hours for the determination of moisture content. The moisture content was calculated
using above and the drying curve was drawn (time vs moisture)

RESULTS AND CALCULATIONS:

RESULTS:
Results of Oven dried samples (at 550C)

Weight of the dishes Dish A 29.845 g Dish B 42.251 g

Initial Weight of the Samples Sample A 10.050 g Sample B 10.066 g
Weight loss at ½ an hour time intervals
Time 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
min. min. min. min. min. min. min. min. min min min min
A 9.89 8.38 7.12 6.17 5.21 4.38 3.80 3.46 2.94 2.56 2.11
5 2 2 2 0 5 2 5 6 3 6 1.844
B 9.81 8.25 6.97 6.02 5.13 4.45 3.78 3.32 2.89 2.38 2.11
6 1 2 8 1 0 1 9 3 5 1 1.794

% Moisture content = Weight after drying X 100

Weight of the sample

% moisture content with time

Time 30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300 330 360
min. min. min. min. min. min. min. min. min min min min
A – % 98.4 83.4 70.8 61.4 51.8 43.6 37.8 34.4 29.3 25.5 21.0
18.35
moisture 6 0 7 1 4 3 1 8 1 0 5
B – % 97.5 82.0 69.2 59.8 50.9 44.2 37.5 33.0 28.7 23.6 20.9
17.82
moisture 2 0 6 8 7 1 6 7 4 9 7
Average
97.9 82.7 70.0 60.6 51.4 43.9 37.6 33.7 29.0 24.6 21.0
% 18.34
9 0 6 4 0 2 8 8 2 0 1
Moisture
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Moisture loss at 105 0C after 3 hrs

Sample A Sample B Sample C

Weight of Dishes 30.980 g 40.100 g 34.681 g
Initial wgt. of Sample 5.010 g 5.015 g 5.021 g
Final weight 0.398 g 0.400 g 0.410 g

CALCULATIONS

% Moisture = Weight loss × 100

Weight of the sample

Sample A Sample B Sample C

% Moisture (5.010 - 0.398) g * 100 (5.015 - 0.400) g * 100 (5.021 - 0.410) g * 100
5.010 g 5.015 g 5.021 g
92.06 % 92.02 % 91.83%

Average of % Moisture = 92.06 + 92.02 + 91.83

3
= 91.97%
Therefore, weight of the sample after moisture removed totally = 100 – 91.97% = 8.03 %
Results of Oven dried samples (at 55 0C)

DISCUSSION:

Preservation of foods by drying is one of the earliest and simplest techniques used for
centuries. Dehydration is the process by which surplus water is removed with out
drastically reducing the taste and nutritive value of the foods. Foods such as meat, fish,
figs, apples, raisins, apricots, gooseberries, herbs, and vegetables are generally preserved
by this method. They keep well because of the combination of the physical changes.

Drying removes the moisture from the vegetables so that bacteria, yeasts and molds cannot
grow and spoil the vegetables. It also slows down the action of enzymes, but does not
inactivate them. Because drying removes moisture, the vegetable becomes smaller and
lighter in weight. The optimum temperature for drying vegetables is 105° C. If higher
temperatures are used the vegetables may "case harden", that is cook and harden on the
outside while trapping moisture on the inside. The vegetables will eventually mold when
the moisture equilibrates in the item. Thus, the drying process should never be hurried by
raising the drying temperature.

For vegetables, drying time is critical to tenderness. The longer the drying time, the less
flavorful and poorer the product. Drying time can be hastened by drying small, uniformly
cut pieces.
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CONCLUTION:

Average moisture percentage of carrot is 91.97%.

3. RECONSTITUTION TEST FOR THE DRIED VEGETABLE SAMPLES

INTRODUCTION:

This experiment was carried out to test the reconstitution of the dried vegetable sample. In
reconstitution water is added to the product which is restored to a condition similar to that
when it was fresh. This enables the food product to be cooked as if the person using fresh
fruit or vegetables. It can be used as a measure of the quality of the product.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

MATERIALS:

Previously dried sample

Beaker
Cold water

METHOD:

5g of previously dried sample was weighed and put in to a small beaker. Cold water was
added 10 times of the weight of the dried product. The container was covered and boiled
and simmered gently until the product was tendered. The cooking time was 30 minutes
after the boiling point had been reached. The sample was tested for palatability, toughness,
flavour and presence or absence of bad flavour. Re-hydration ratio is evaluated.

RESULTS AND CALCULATIONS:

RESULTS

Weight of the dried sample = 0.398g

Weight of the re-hydrated sample = 4.696g

CALCULATIONS

Weight of the dried sample = 0.398g

Weight of the re-hydrated sample = 4.696g

Re-hydration ratio = Wr/Wd

Wr = Weight of the sample after re-hydration
Wd = Weight of the dried sample
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Re-hydration ratio = 4.696/0.398

CONCLUTION

According to the experiment re-hydration ratio is 4.696/0.398

DISCUSSION:

A significant advantage of this process is the short drying time in so far as it is not
necessary to go beyond the inflexion point. The finished products after
rehydration/reconstitution are of a better quality compared with products obtained by
dehydration alone.

Most vegetables are soaked or rehydrated in cold water prior to use. However, there are 2
other acceptable rehydration methods: add the dried product to boiling water or add the
dried vegetable to a product with lots of liquid, such as soup. Whichever rehydration
method is chosen, the vegetables return to their original shape. Vegetables can be soaked in
either water or, for additional flavor. Using boiling liquid speeds up the soaking time. Save
and use the soaking liquid in cooking. Adding dried vegetables directly to soups and stews
is the simplest way to rehydrate vegetables. Add sufficient water to keep them covered and
simmer until tender

REFERENCES AND LITERATURE CITED:

http:// chinesefood.about.com/od/cookingfaqs/f/blanchvegetable.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blanching