Post - Harvest Handling and Processing of Fruits and Vegetables

Contents: Foreword. Preface. I. Post-harvest handling: 1. Introduction. 2. Post harvest losses. 3. Quality and factors affecting quality. 4. Ripening changes and regulation. 5. Maturity indices and harvesting. 6. Packaging. 7. Pre-cooling and storage. 8. Transportation and marketing. Bibliography. II. Processing: 9. Introduction. 10. Methods and principles of preservation. 11. Quality control in fruit and vegetable processing. 12. Beverages. 13. Drying and dehydration. 14. Pickles, chutneys and sauces. 15. Jam, Jelly, marmalade and butter. 16. Preserve, candy and glazed fruit. 17. Toffee, fruit bar, cheese and sweet. 18. Canning. 19. Frozen products. 20. Fermented products. 21. Waste utilization. 22. Product packaging. Bibliography.

“Fruits and vegetables are seasonal in nature resulting in surplus availability during season and shortage during off season. A huge quantity of highly nutritive fruits and vegetables are spoiled at each and every step of the value chain due to improper post-harvest management and lack of adequate processing. The cost involved in preventing the losses is always lesser than the cost of production. Hence, post harvest management attains greater significance.

The present book has been written into two pars, Part I-covers all the practices for post harvest handling of fresh fruits and vegetables while Part-II covers processing of fruits and vegetables. The information provided in this book would serve as knowledge pool and help researchers, growers, processors, entrepreneurs, students of horticulture and food technology disciplines and all those involved in research and development in post-harvest management and value addition of fruits and vegetables.”