Effect Of Temperature And Time On The Moisture Content, Colour, And Texture Of Okra

Abstract

Effect of drying temperature and time on okra (Hibiscus esculentus) was investigated. The moisture content, colour and texture of the okra were evaluated. A model was developed to meet the required safe storage moisture content, using data drawn from a 2 factorial conducted in triplicates. The colour and texture parameters were statistically evaluated using chi-square. The results showed that a temperature of 65 C and a drying time of 5 hours are most appropriate for drying okra to safe storage moisture content of 3.2% dry basis (0.032 db). At P<0.05 results showed that there was significant difference in colour and no significant differences in the texture of fresh and dried samples.