Full Length Research Paper

Studies on separation techniques of pomegranate seeds and their effect on quality of Anardana

Amit Parashar^1,2*, S. K. Gupta³ and Ashok Kumar⁴

¹Department of Chemistry, Eshan College of Engineering, Agra-Mathura Highway Agra-282001, India.

²Department of Chemistry, Institute of Engineering and Management, Mathura, India, 281406 India.

³Department of Chemistry, Bipin Bihari College, Jhansi, India.

⁴Department of Chemistry, St. John’s College, Agra, India.

*Corresponding author. E-mail; parashar.amit1@gmail.com.  Tel.:+91 9219591671

Accepted 7 September, 2009

   Abstract

The dehydrated seeds of wild pomegranate fruits (Anardana) are used as acidulent in culinary preparations and in making various medicines. For easy separation of seeds, fruits were subjected to sand roasting, hot water dipping and soaking in cold water. Hot water dip for 2 min saved time required for separation of seeds from fruits (80% excluding treatment time and 74% including treatment time). Due to the high temperature during sand roasting, quality of seeds and Anardana was inferior when compared to other treatments. The desirable color and chemical composition of the product Anardana was retained in the treatment hot water dipping for 2 min.

Key words: Wild pomegranate, seeds, treatments, separation, quality.