The Effects of Grilling and Blanching on Physico-Chemical, Textural and Sensory Properties of Ready-to-eat Grilled Pumpkin from Kang-Khok and Sri-Muang Cultivars

Abstract

Pumpkin is promoted to increase its cultivation in Pattana Nikom subdistrict of Lopburi province as to develop the place to be a new agricultural tourist destination. To prevent the price drop from the overproduced pumpkin, this study increased its utilization by producing a ready-to-eat grilled pumpkin product. The effects
of grilling and blanching before grilling on the qualities of the grilled pumpkin slices were studied. Pumpkins, Kang-Khok (KK) and Sri-Muang (SM), the wildly cultivated cultivars in the area, were used. The experiment showed that the 3, 4 and 5 min of grilling time had different effects on physico-chemical, textural and sensory qualities of the grilled pumpkin from both KK and SM. However, Sri-Muang pumpkin that was grilled for 4 min (SM4) had a suitable textural property, which agreed with the high consumer liking score (7.3-7.5). Thus, SM4 was selected as a model sample for the study on the blanching of pumpkin slices in boiling water for 15 sec and 5 min before they were grilled. The blanching at both levels showed no effect on the physico-chemical qualities of the pumpkin slices,
but the 15 sec blanching (SM4-15s) had an equivalent hardness value (1,529 g) to the non-blanched SM4-0s (1,481 g). In addition, SM4-15s also received the highest liking score (7.5-8.0) for all sensory attributes, thus was selected for the shelf-life study at 4 ^oC. The blanching was effective as this step could help to reduce the initial microbial counts on the pumpkin slices and it could also reduce the microbial counts on the slices to be lower than of the SM4-0s through 4 days of storage.