Effect of cultivars, pretreatment and drying on physicochemical properties of Amla (Emblica officinalis) gratings.

Effect of four different cultivars and salt pretreatment
on drying of Amla (Emblica officinalis) gratings
were studied. Quality attributes namely, ascorbic acid, total
phenolic content, antioxidant activity and colour were
evaluated for dried (using Cabinet tray dryer at 55 ± 2 �C
for 8 h) and stored (refrigerated, ambient and accelerated
condition) samples of four cultivars (Krishna, Kanchan,
NA-7 and Chakaiya). Salt pretreated dried samples showed
better retention of nutrients and colour as compared to
untreated. Retention of ascorbic acid, total phenolic content
and antioxidant activity (IC50 value) in pretreated dried
samples were in the range of 79.51–84.89%,
176.5–220.3 mg GAE/g db and 9.48 to 17.74 mg/ll,
respectively. Colour retention was also found to be better
in salt pretreated samples. Ambient storage condition
resulted in higher retention of ascorbic acid and colour
compared to accelerated condition. Taking into consideration,
the nutritional value of the fresh Amla, ability to
retain nutritional value and color during drying and storage,
NA-7 cultivar Amla (pretreated with 1% salt, tray dried at
55 �C for 8 h) is the most suitable for preparation of Amla
powder. The method developed in the present work is
devoid of blanching step and found to be effective in
retaining the nutrients during drying and storage and can be
employed also for drying of similar fruits and vegetables.