Honey Based Herbal Banana Powder by Osmo-Air Drying: A Better Alternative to Baby Food

A possible alternative solution to minimize the post harvest losses of banana is to prepare best quality banana powder by modern advance technique of osmoair drying to get the combined benefits of these two valuable processes. Osmotic dehydration of 5 mm banana slices was carried out at different osmotic variables, viz., process temperature (30°, 40° and 50°C) and immersion time (24, 48 and 72 h), whereas, concentration of osmotic solution of 60°Brix and sample to solution ratio (1: 5) were kept constant throughout the experiment. A novel concept of two osmotic agents i.e., 30% honey and 60% sucrose in 1: 2 proportions with 5% NaCl supplemented with natural herbs 1% cardamom, 1% ginger powder, 1% Tulsi powder, 1% cinnamon powder, and 1% clove powder. These osmotically dehydrated banana slices were dried at 55°C temperature and 1.25 m/s velocity using laboratory level tray dryer (till 5 to 6% (wb)). On the basis of highest values of water loss to solid gain ratio (7.01), the treatment with combination of 60°Brix osmotic solution concentration, 30°C process temperature and 72 h immersion time was found to be the best among all the treatments. Lowest drying time of 16 h was required to reduce the moisture content osmotically dehydrated slices of 61.10% (wb) to5.81% (wb). On the basis of overall quality evaluation of osmo-air dried banana powder, highest water solubility index (71.38%), highest water absorption index (595.04%), ascorbic acid content (15.00 mg/100 g), titratable acidity (0.88%), protein content (4.12%) and crude fibre content (1.85%) and sensory score (8.74) were obtained in treatment with combination of 60°C osmotic solution concentration, 30°C process temperature and 72 h immersion time, among all the treatments.