Nazaneen NS, Senapati AK, Dev Raj and Mahanand SS
Application of osmotic dehydration for different fruits has been increased significantly in recent years. Among different fruits, pineapple have characteristic pleasant flavour, distinct aroma and exquisite taste and ranks 6th position in world fruit production and is one of the most suitable fruit used for osmotic dehydration. Osmo dehydration is one of the relatively simple preservation techniques for processing of fruits which does not require any sophisticated equipments. So, the pineapple growers can use such type of technique and can convert pineapples into dehydrated form during the excess production during glut season and to reduce huge post harvest losses. In the osmotic dehydration process, partial dehydration of the fruit pieces is accomplished by dipping in concentrated sugar syrup solution followed by hot air dehydration. It is a useful technique for producing safe, stable, nutritious, tasty, economical and concentrated fruit products. The products prepared from pineapple by osmo-dehydration process remain good up to six months of storage at room temperature. COEX nitrogen package followed by storage at low temperature (7°C ± 1°C) and aluminum pouches maintain the quality of the product for long period.