Drying kinetics and effects of different drying methods on nutritional quality of raw and differently blanched green peas

The study was done to analyze the effects of various blanching conditions on nutritional quality of differently dried green peas using three different methods namely, open sun drying, cabinet drying and drying in solar dehydrator. Samples were analyzed for various parameters such as, moisture content, rehydration ratio, linear shrinkage ratio, green color ratio, total chlorophyll, ascorbic acid, microbial load and sensory analysis. Various mathematical models were used to study the drying behavior of green pea samples. With the help of various statistical parameters, the best model for different drying conditions was found out. Chemically blanched peas dried in cabinet dryer were considered best among all the treated peas dried under different drying conditions and least acceptance was given to un-blanched open sun dried peas. Quality and acceptability of solar dried peas were higher than open sun drying but lower than cabinet drying. While considering models, Logarithmic model gave a very good performance on all the statistical parameters. So, it can be used to predict the drying behavior of green peas.