OPTIMIZING THE ANTIOXIDANT POTENTIAL AND QUALITY CHARATERISTICS OF SPRAY DRIED TOMATO POWDER

Abstract

Tomato is one of the most popular and widely grown vegetable crops. A wide variety of tomato products are prepared by concentrated juice or pulp, which needs high cost technology for good quality products. Tomatoes are rich source of vitamins, lycopene and other essential nutrients. Tomatoes are low in fat content because its supplies low level of saturated fat, cholesterol and sodium. Objective: This study were conducted to develop a suitable drying method for production of dehydrated tomato powder. Methods: Spray dryer is a unique technique of producing a dry powder from a liquid or slurry by rapidly drying with a hot gas and drying agent used to increase yield. Parameters that are use are temperature, dying agent and flow rate. In this study the effect of drying on antioxidant activity, solubility or consistency of tomato powder were measured. Results: The results indicate that the mean value for TPC is 8.3283±0.57, DPPH is 255.0±18.7, mean value for solubility is 5.13±0.06 and the mean value for consistency is 147.33±4.15.Conclusions: Conclusively, it is observed that tomatoes are rich source of bioactive components like lycopene, due to its perishability and short shelf life; it should be preserved in the powder form that will extend its shelf life and further usability. Furthermore, nutritional profile of spray dried tomato powder is not affected in anyways.