Dehydration for Better Quality Value Added Product of Bitter Gourd (Momordica charantia L.)

An experiment was carried out to evaluate the dehydration and rehydration characteristics of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) fruits. The slices of bitter gourd were blanched in boiling water and steam for 1, 2 and 3 minutes respectively. The slices were then dried at 65°C, 60°C and 55°C in a cabinet dryer up to constant moisture content.After final dehydration, rehydration for 10minutes, 20minutes, 30minutes, 50minutes, 70minutes and 90 minutes were undertaken respectively. There were seven treatments, replicated thrice and experiment was laid out in completely randomized design. The moisture content declined rapidly in bitter gourd rings dried at 65°C.The rehydration ratio recorded was 6.42, coefficient of rehydration was 13.91 and percent water in rehydrated sample was 88.14% respectively in water blanched samples. Hence, it is concluded that, among the three drying temperatures and two blanching methods, better dehydration and rehydration characters were reported in samples dried at 60°C and blanched in water for 2 minutes.