Minimally Processed Fruits & Vegetables

Peeling, cutting and washing of vegetables before cooking is a time-consuming and laborious process and hence there is a need to minimize kitchen drudgery besides reducing the packaging and transportation costs due to the elimination of inedible portions. The process developed is based on stabilization of precut vegetables in the packaged form without thermal pretreatment which renders fresh-like quality to the products. The products, as a result of inbuilt ability withstand ambient temperatures and offer marketing flexibility under varied conditions at the retail outlets. Minimal processing protocols for 14 types of vegetables i.e., carrot, cauliflower, cabbage, potato, radish, capsicum, etc have been developed.