This article summarises the results of the investigation of application of microwave exposure on the dehulling characteristics of the black gram and the properties of the dehulled grains. Black gram was exposed to 3 microwave power levels, viz., 450, 630 and 810 W for 7 different exposure, ranging from 60 to 150 s at an interval of 15 s with a view to determine the suitable combination of dosage in order to get the maximum yield with little change in colour. Related changes in properties were also studied. It was observed that the surface temperature of the grain increased with the increase in microwave power level from 450 to 810 W as well as exposure time from 60 to 150 s in the range from 58 to 123°C while the dehulling time reduced from 445 to 170 s. The dehulling yield increased with increasing microwave dosage in the beginning and reached to the maximum value followed by decreasing trend. The colour of the dehulled grain changed slowly up to a microwave dosage of 972 J/g after that it changed vividly darker than the control. The dehulling and dhal yields and colour change were polynomial functions of microwave dosage. The highest yield of 73.7 % was achieved at about 972 J/g with a little change in colour (CIELAB ΔE* value of 2.58). The corresponding dehulling time, cooking time and losses during dehulling were respectively 185 s, 10 min and 15.1 % as compared to 492 s, 20 min and 31.5 % for control respectively. It is concluded that a dosage of about 972 J/g was the best for the black gram dehulling at a rate of 630 W or higher power level.

Black gram kernels with three initial moisture contents (10, 14 & 18 % w.b.) were steam treated in a continuous steaming unit at three inlet steam pressures (2, 3 & 4 kg/cm 2 ) for three grain residence times (2, 4 & 6 min) in order to determine best treatment condition for maximizing the dhal yield while limiting the colour change in acceptable range. The dhal yield, dehulling loss and the colour difference (Delta E*) of the dehulled dhal were found to vary respectively, from 56.4 to 78.8 %, 30.8 to 8.6 % and 2.1 to 9.5 with increased severity of treatment. Optimization was done in order to obtain higher dhal yield while limiting the colour difference (Delta E*) within acceptable range i.e. 2.0 to 3.5 using response surface methodology. The best condition was obtained with the samples having 13.1 % initial moisture treated with 4 kg/cm 2 for about 6 min to achieve a dhal yield of 71.2 % and dehulling loss of 15.5 %.

No abstract

No abstract