Effect of Blanching on the Quality of Frozen Product of Carrot

Carrot is one of the important root vegetables rich in bioactive compounds. The consumption of carrot and its products is increasing steadily due to its recognition as an important source of natural antioxidants having anticancer activity. Blanching is scalding the vegetables in water or in steam for a short time. The influences of blanching on the frozen product of carrots were investigated to determine the quality and shelf life of the products during storage in refrigerator for four months. There were ten treatments using three different blanching time and temperatures. The chemical compositions of the frozen products were analyzed for the years 2013-14 and 2014-15. The following results were found: the moisture contents were gradually increased, acidity contents of blanching carrots were decreased and P H contents increased during storage. The β-carotene contents were increased and the vitamin C contents were decreased after increasing the blanching time and temperature. On the other hand, the TSS contents were slightly decreased on blanching with long-time storage. Peroxidase and catalase inactivation time of enzyme for water bath blanching of carrots represents the most enzymes were inactivated rapidly as temperature rises to 85 °C using 2 min blanching time. Therefore, the study results showed that the frozen carrots were stored well in home refrigerator up to three months using blanching temperature of 85 °C and duration of 2 min. Keywords: Carrot, blanching, shelf life, vitamin C, β-carotene Cite this Article Pervin Shahnaj, Miaruddin Md, Islam Md. Serazul et al. Effect of blanching on the quality of frozen product of carrot. Research & Reviews: Journal of Food Science and Technology. 2015; 4(3): 1–9p.