Influence of hot water on ripening/curing of dhakki dates

• Published in: Pakistan journal of biological sciences 2004-12, Vol.7 (12), p.2034-2038
• Main Authors: Saleem, S.A, Baloch, A.K.,Gomal Univ., Dera Ismail Khan (Pakistan). Dept. ofFood Science and Technology
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: DATES; DRYING; HEAT TREATMENT; QUALITY; RIPENING; TEMPERATURE
• ISSN: 1028-8880
• DOI: 10.3923/pjbs.2004.2034.2038

The influence of hot water treatment on the ripening/curing of Dhakki datesis studied. In the first part of the experiment, the time of dipping in hot wateris fixed to 5 min and temperature of the hot water varied for 35, 70 and 93degree C. For the next set of the experiment the dipping time varied for 1, 3, 5,or 7 min while the temperature for the dip in hot water retained constant at 70degree C, besides carrying out a simple water wash treatment to conceiveabsolute advantage of the hot water dip treatment. The treated samples are thenallowed to ripen/cure for 72 h under air circulated cabinet dehydrator adjustedat 38-40 degree C. The effectiveness of the treatments is evaluated by assessingtexture, taste and overall acceptability of the products, determining also thedegree of fruit ripeness. The treatment with 70 degree C performed better than35 and 93 degree C furnishing with 55% product yield of acceptable quality. Theyield of improved quality product is further increased to 70% on the optimizationof treatment time to 3 min. The ripening of Dhakki dates does not require thefruits to stay on tree beyond fully mature doka stage for want of dong formationand hence saves at least 2 weeks hang-on period. By implementation of thetechnology it is highly likely to cut down the overall expected losses andexpenses considerably, besides improving quality and yield of the productreasonably.