Quality Characteristics of Vegetables by Different Steam Treatments

Abstract

Thermally processed vegetables have long been considered to have lower nutritional values compared to fresh produce. This consideration is based on the fact that ascorbic acid(vitamin C) or other thermolabile compounds may lose their activity due to oxidation or by consequence of leaching into the water during home cooking or industrial processing, such as by blanching. In this study, major agricultural products such as carrots, broccoli, and potatoes were exposed to steam treatments of different types. Then, changes in color and levels of ascorbic acid, carotene, and moisture in the fresh and steam processed vegetable samples were measured and evaluated. The results clearly showed that steam-processing using a natural convection type method was superior to the other treatments in terms of quality, including color and nutrient retention, among all the vegetables tested.