Study on Canning Methods of Date (Mozafati and Karout Varieties)

Abstract

Research was conducted in the laboratory of Horticulture Dept. of Seeds and Plants Improvement Research Inst. in Karaj to review the possibility of canning soft and nectariferous `Mozafati' and `Karout' dates from Bam and Zahedan cities. According to the existing information, there are large amounts of postharvest spoilages on this fruit because of their storage in carton boxes or other packing materials and due to a large amount of nectar. Thus, there are physical and chemical changes particularly during ripening (date), and, as a result, there is always a severe effect on the quality of the product. It seems that canning of date under proper conditions could maintain the characteristics of the proposed variety and also the physical and chemical properties of the fruit for a longer time and it could be easily transported to all parts of the world. The samples for this experiment were collected in tamer stage because there are a lot of changes in the ripening stage of these varieties, which lead to severe fruit drop. The proposed samples were randomly collected from 10 date palms. The specifications and characteristics of the collected samples were recorded after the preliminary test procedures, washing, and disinfection. In this experiment a complete randomized design with four treatments were used. The experimented factors were variety and treatment. The experimented varieties were Mozafati and Karout and the proposed treatments were control tree–date syrup, sugar syrup, sugar beet molasses, and vacuum conditions. This experiment was repeated for four times for all treatments, and the best canning method was determined. The results indicate that vacuum conditions are the best canning method for Mozafati, while canning with sugar beet molasses is the best method for Karout.