Standardization, Characterization and Shelf Life Studies on Sandge, a Traditional Food Adjunct of Western India
Food adjuncts are an assortment of items that add variety, spice and crunch to the common menu. Maharashtra is a western state of India. Traditional food adjuncts of Maharashtra include sandge, sandaya, kurdaya, papad, pickles, chutney and chutney powders,wadi etc. Studies were undertaken to standardize the recipe, process parameters and select suitable packaging materials for Sandge(a dried vegetable product made from carrot and /pumpkin/ bottle gourd or radish as well as okra, coriander leaves, sesame seeds, green chilies and salt) Five different combinations using carrot (80% 60% 40% pumpkin bottle gourd (20% 40% each and other ingredients (20% were prepared and evaluated for sensory characteristics. The product made with carrot (80% and other ingredients (20% scored the best. The product from standardized recipe was dried at three different temperatures (45oC, 50oC, 55oC) 50 oC drying temperature was found to be optimum based on the sensory evaluation. The dehydrated sandge were analyzed for their physico chemical characteristics, packed in PET/PE and PET/Met.poly/ PE pouches and stored under ambient temperature conditions for a period of 90 days. The decrease in sensory scores was found to be significant in PET/PE packed sandge while the same packed in PET/Met.poly/ PE pouches was found to be acceptable even after 90 days of storage. The colour changes over the storage period were also measured using Lovibond Tintometer.