Impact of different drying methods on sensory and physicochemical analysis of instant green bell pepper chutney mix

Abstract

Chutney is a thick sauce of Indian origin that contains fruits, spices, sugar and vinegar eaten with snacks and other foods to add flavor. Sensory attributes of green bell pepper (GBP) based instant chutney mix prepared by blending fresh GBP or dried GBP powder (freeze dried: -40 ⁰C, vacuum < 13 Pa; vacuum-assisted microwave (VAM) dried: 300 W, 80 kPa and hot air dried: 60 ⁰C) with other spice ingredients, were evaluated using fuzzy logic. In general, fresh GBP chutney followed by chutney with freeze-dried and VAM dried GBP had higher likeness than those prepared from hot air dried samples. “Taste” was adjudged highly important sensory characteristic. All sensory factors i.e. Taste, aroma, mouthfeel and color lied in the range of ‘necessary’ to ‘highly important’ leading to the conclusion that all sensory attributes are important in average. Among the dried samples, the chutney developed from FD sample exhibited the highest values for reducing and total sugar. All the recipes recorded a decrease in value, except titratable acidity.