Traditional and Modern Methods for Apricot Fruit Processing used in Farm Enterprises in Ladakh Region of, Jammu and Kashmir

An experiment was carried out to study the effect of pre drying treatments (steam blanching and organic acids) on production of quality dry flowers in carnation cv. Harvey during the year 2014 at College of Horticulture, Rajendranagar, Hyderabad. The investigation was conducted with nine pre drying treatments in completely randomized design. The study revealed that non significant differences with respect to dry flower weight, dry flower diameter, percent moisture loss and time taken to dry. Pre drying treatment of carnation flowers with citric acid (0.5%) for 15 minutes recorded maximum score for color (2.97), shape (2.92), texture (3.40), brittleness (3.32), overall acceptability (3.65) and total carotenoid content (66.30 μ/g). Least score for colour (1.95) shape (2.05) and texture (1.99) was observed with flowers treated with steam blanching for 2 min. Least score for brittleness (1.67), overall acceptability (2.05) and total carotenoid content (21.51 μ/g) was noticed with distilled water pre treatment for 15 min.