Assessment of biochemical changes of elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) pickles during storage

Elephant foot yam (Amorphophallus paeoniifolius) is an important crop cultivated for its edible corms. Fresh vegetables have a very short shelf-life since these are subjected to physiological and rapid microbial spoilage and in some cases contamination by pathogens also. Processing or modification of raw foods by using food processing methods and techniques is needed to meet the challenges of food security and safety, nutrition demand and availability of food. Pickle is one of the oldest means of food preservation and reduces the risk of food borne diseases and food spoilage. The present investigation was undertaken with the objective of funding out the physicochemical changes of elephant foot yam pickles for a period of twelve months storage. In this study, it was observed that total sugar, starch, ascorbic acid, carbohydrate, a-carotene and total phenol were gradually decreased with the increasing of storage time, while titratable acidity was progressively increased during storage. Further results indicated that pickles perform an essential role in the preservation and it retains its wholesomeness, nutritive values and has long shelf life. Thus, it may be concluded that the elephant foot yam pickle is a novel product which could find wide acceptance with good prospects for commercialization in small-scale industries.