Value Addition and Product Development of Fruits through Intervention of Vacuum Freezedrying Technology: An Industrial Prospect for Wild Edibles in Uttarakhand
JS Butola*
Published: July 04, 2022
Abstract
India Himalayan Region is well recognized for its rich biotic wealth and cultural and ethnic diversity. Availability of more than 650 species of wild edible plants largely supports to the local communities to meet their nutritional needs as food supplements. Unfortunately, the high potential of these natural resources to combat with global malnutrition issues has been under exploited and underutilized. In case of cultivated plants, the standard practices pertaining to growing, harvesting, post-harvesting, processing technology, packaging and storage of the processed products are well known to develop quality products. On the other hand for wild edibles, only the measures for handling during the collection and post-harvest activities apply and this, it is one of the major advantages of the wild fruits particularly collected from non-polluted environment of Himalayan region.