Drying of chilli pepper in various conditions

Fresh red pepper was blanched with water (at 90 °C for 3 min), 5% potassium carbonate and 2% ethyl oleate (both at 20 °C for 1 min) and then dried either with forced hot air (at 55, 65 and 75 °C) or solar energy. Then the effects of different variables on the kinetics and quality parameters of dehydrated red chilli pepper were studied. The peppers blanched with boiling water or ethyl oleate and dried at 75 °C had the lowest drying time and their quality indicators (vitamin C, colour values, shrinkage percentage, and rehydration rate) were not significantly different. However, peppers blanched with potassium carbonate and dried at 55 °C had the highest content of this vitamin and also colour scores among different treatments. While the untreated samples (blank) dehydrated either with hot air at 55 °C or solar energy had the lowest shrinkage (%), they did not have significant difference (P<0.01) with the water-blanched samples dried at 65 °C.