Quality of fresh and stored foam mat dried Mandarin powder.

Foam mat drying is a lucrative process of mandarin (kinnow) pulp preservation in the form of powder. Foam mat drying of mandarin pulp experiments were carried out at 65, 75 and 85 °C drying air temperatures using carboxy methyl cellulose, milk and egg white as foaming agents at different concentrations levels to get dried mandarin powder. Quality of the reconstituted dried Mandarin pulp-powder was evaluated for 6 month storage studies at an interval of 2 months for total sugars (%), ascorbic acid (mg 100 mL), total acid (%), pH and microbial load (fungal and bacterial) using standard procedures. It was observed that total sugars, ascorbic acid and total acid were decreased whereas pH was slightly higher than the fresh pulp. There was minor bacterial growth noticed in all the treatments, which is within the permissible limit, furthermore no fungal growth was noticed during storage period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]