Antioxidants are substances that are able to prevent or inhibit oxidation processes in human body as well as in food products. Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells. Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates and inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized it selves. The protection of foods from oxygen is the basic principle upon which antioxidant protective technologies are based. Both synthetic as well as natural antioxidants are using in food industry but the application of synthetics has been reassessed due to its potential carcinogenic effects. Research is being focused on vegetable materials which are a rich source of antioxidant compounds. Various antioxidant compounds have been isolated, many of them being polyphenols. Direct relationship exists between the total phenolic contents and the antioxidant activity in fruits and vegetables. The entire tissue of fruits and vegetables are rich in bio-active compounds and in most cases the waste by-products can present similar or even higher contents of antioxidant compounds. The waste materials such as peels, seeds and stones produced from the fruit and vegetable processing unit can be successfully used as a source of phytochemicals and antioxidants. Different antioxidant sources, their mode of action, application in food industry and antioxidant activities of banana peel, watermelon peel, potato peel and cucumber peel are reviewed in this paper.

Osmo-dehydrated cashew apples could be developed by osmotic treatment of 10 mm thick slices of blanched cashew apples in 60° brix honey at 50° C for 24hours followed by drying at 50° C till 15-20% moisture. The product could be stored for six months in vacuum pack with nitrogen in laminated pouch without affecting major chemical quality parameters.Key words: Cashew apple, Honey, Osmo-dehydration. INTRODUCTIONOsmotic dehydration (OD) is a food preservation technique with low energy and capital requirement compared to other conventional methods and results in good quality final product in terms of colour, texture and flavour. It involves partial removal of water from fruits and vegetables by immersing in aqueous solutions of high osmotic pressure such as sugar and salts. Cashew apple (Anacardium occidentale L.) is the succulent peduncle of the cashew fruit containing about 82-85% juice, 10-12% sugar, minerals and high level of vitamin C. The perishable cashew apple generates high amount waste residues and the wastage rate exceeds about 90% of production in India. Economic and efficient methods for handling and processing could help facing this problem through processing and transformation into good quality attractive products with extended shelf life. The problems limiting the acceptability of cashew apple are its astringency, seasonability, poor storability and lack of awareness regarding information on appropriate processing technology. Osmotic dehydration is considered as an answer to these problems, where high quality ready-to-eat products with good shelf life can be produced. Several production factors such as sample size, nature and duration of osmotic treatment etc. affect the efficiency of osmotic dehydration. Hence an experiment was undertaken in the Department of Processing Technology, College of Agriculture, Vellayani, Trivandrum, Kerala to study the effect of osmotic solutions and sample size on osmo-dehydration thereby formulating good quality osmo-dehydrated cashew apple.

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A study was undertaken during 2015-2017 to study the sensory evaluation and microbial analysis of selected osmo dehydrated bilimbi treatments during storage. Osmo dehydrated bilimbi in 600Brix for 180 minutes and 80 0Brix for an immersion time of 120 and 180 minutes were packed using polypropylene packaging material and stored at ambient temperature for a period of four months. Minimum fungal count (2.42 cfu/g) and bacterial count (2.53 cfu/g) was recorded for bilimbi osmosed in 800B for 180 minutes. Bilimbi osmo dehydrated in 800 Brix for 180 minutes recorded highest sensory score for taste (8.17), texture (8.17) and flavor (7.97) and overall acceptability (8.17) after four months of storage. All the treatments were microbiologically safe and acceptable during the storage.

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