Effect of Blanching Pre-Treatments on Sensory Quality of Dragon Fruit Peel Pickle

Present investigation entitled effect of blanching pre-treatments on quality of dragon fruit peel picklewas aimed to evaluate sensory quality of dragon fruit peel pickleduring storage. For preparation of dragon fruit peel pickle, an experiment was laid out with six blanching pre-treatments [without blanching (T1), water blanching (T2), 0.5% citric acid blanching (T3), 1.0% citric acid blanching (T4), 0.5% alum (potassium aluminium sulphate) blanching (T5) and 1.0% alum (potassium aluminium sulphate) blanching (T6)]. The prepared pickle was stored for a period of 6 month to analyse the sensory quality attributes at three month intervals. The results of the investigation revealed that dragon fruit peel pickle prepared from peel blanched in 1 per cent citric acid (T4) observed to have maximum colour, taste, flavour, texture and overall acceptabilityscore. Overall findings of investigation revealed that best sensory quality dragon fruit peel pickle can be prepared from peel when blanched in 1 per cent citric acid followed by curing in 8 per cent salt and addition of ingredients. The dragon fruit peel pickle can be successfully stored for a period of six months with minimum changes in sensoryquality.