Comparative Evaluation of Effect of Conventional Processing Techniques on the Nutritional Quality of Tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum)

Abstract

Tomato is a highly nutritious fruit. Different processing methods are used to keep its quality attributes. In this study, the effect of four processing methods was assessed on the quality aspects of cherry tomatoes. 5 batches were prepared. First batch was control while the second, third, fourth, and fifth batches were subjected to the processes of drying, blanching, frying and freezing, respectively. After processing the tomatoes, proximate analyses were carried out through standard analytical methods. The results showed that moisture contents were highest in blanched samples and lowest in the dried samples. Ash contents were almost same in all the samples.There was not a prominent difference between crude fiber contents of all processed samples. The crude protein percentage was 12.77% in blanched samples while frozen samples had the lowest percentage, i.e., 1.95%. Crude fat contents were highest in fried samples and lowest in frozen sample. The dried tomato samples had highest carbohydrate content and frozen sample had lowest. The results of the study represented that blanching is comparatively better method to preserve the moisture, ash, fiber and protein contents while to preserve fat and carbohydrate contents, drying and frying are the comparatively better methods, respectively.