Development of fresh and processed tomato salsa with herbs
International Conference and Exhibition on Food Processing & Technology
November 22-24, 2012 Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India

Aruna Kumari Yadla and Poonam A Sachdev

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

The present study was carried out to develop fresh and processed tomato salsa with herbs. Formulation of tomato salsa was finalized on the basis of sensory evaluation as tomato (70 %), vinegar (10 %), sugar (8 %), cilantro (1.5 %), onion (5.2 %), garlic (0.6 %), capsicum (1.5 %), green chilli (0.6 %), oregano (0.3 %), cumin (0.15 %), pepper (0.15 %), guar gum (0.2 %) and salt (2 %). The shelf life of fresh (unprocessed) salsa was 1 week at room temperature (28-35 ?C) and 2 months at refrigeration temperature (4-10 ?C) while that processed salsa remained highly acceptable up till 4 months of storage studies at both the temperatures in all kinds of packaging material used. Non significant effect of storage and packaging was found on moisture, TSS, pH, total sugars, tannins, total phenolics, flavonoids, ash and viscosity but significant effect was found on ascorbic acid, reducing sugars, lycopene and β-carotene of tomato salsa. Microbiological studies found negligible plate count (cfu/g) of bacteria, mould and yeast in processed tomato salsa packed in cans, glass jars and retort pouches during 4 months of storage studies. Sample in glass jars (refrigeration temperature) showed maximum antioxidant activity among all the samples initially and also during storage. Sensory scores of tomato salsa packed in three packaging materials were found acceptable during 4 months of storage studies in the following order: glass jars (refrigeration temperature) > cans > glass jar (room temperature) > retort pouch (refrigeration temperature) > retort pouch (room temperature).