Abstract:
Bitter gourds are vegetables which contain enumerable health benefits and healing
properties. Due to its perishability in nature, it has to be processed to extend the storage
period. Preethi variety of bitter gourd was used for the study. Bitter gourd slices of about
3 mm thickness was subjected to drying after frying and they were packed in LDPE (400
and 200 gauges), PP (250and 100 gauges) and aluminium laminates. Quality parameters
in terms of crispness, overall acceptability and microbial analysis were done in every 20
days interval. The study concluded that aluminium laminates and LDPE 400 gauge were
more suitable for the packaging of fried bitter gourd. The study also revealed that bitter
gourds fried in palm oil showed better stability compared to that fried in coconut oil.
