1Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka
2Department of Agriculture, Food Research UnitGannoruwa, Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
3Department of Food Science and Technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka
*Corresponding Author: A.M. Rikasa, Department of Biosystems Technology, Faculty of Technology, South Eastern University of Sri Lanka, Email: aasrikasa13@gmail.com
Online Published on 01 October, 2022.
Due to their highly perishable nature, vegetables possess a higher chance of deterioration and damage after harvesting. Freezing is a potential preservation technique used to reduce the deterioration and increase the shelf life of vegetables by preventing the wastage of substantial quantities of tomatoes in Sri Lanka.
In this research calcium chloride (2.4% w/w) pretreated Thilina and RIDA F1 tomato variety pieces were analyzed drip loss, pH, color, hardness, cutting shearing strength, ascorbic acid content and sensory parameters under air blast freezing (−30°C, 3 ms−1 air velocity) and conventional freezing (−18°C) conditions.
The L* values of colour, pH and ascorbic acid content were shown significant differences (p<0.05) but a*, b* values, driploss%, cutting and shearing strength didn't show any significant differences (p<0.05) during different freezing conditions. The magnitude of color change (AE) is higher (p<0.05) in conventional freezing treatment than in air-blast freezing. The preference among the panelists is significantly (p<0.05) higher for blast frozen tomato samples than conventional frozen samples concerning color, odor, texture and overall quality parameters. According to the statistical analysis, air blast freezing preserve better physiochemical and sensory parameters of Thilina and RIDA F1 tomato varieties.
Air blast freezing, Conventional freezing, Frozen tomatoes, Quality tomato
