Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

PHYTOCHEMICAL COMPOSITION AND PUNGENCY OF FRESH AND DEHYDRATED ONION CUBES, SLICES AND RINGS

Priyanka and Sunanda Sharan

Abstract

Onion is an important main vegetable in the world, which has a distinctive flavour, taste and pungency. Our study was aimed to investigate the drying of cubes, slices and rings in cabinet (60°C for 7 to 8 hours) and microwave (360W) drying of onion to evaluate nutrient composition of fresh and dehydrated onions. The results of this study indicated that dehydrated onion by both methods contained substantial phytochemical composition for anthocyanin ranged from 3.55 to 3.75, total phenols 202.33 to 288.66 mg/ 100g, antioxidant activity 40.85 to 47.36 per cent. Pungency values ranged from 303.42 to 384.45 mg/100g. Microwave dried onion samples had more antioxidant activity compared to cabinet dried onion samples.