Development of ready-to-eat appetisers based on pepper and their quality evaluation.

Appetiser is a need based product for defence forces deployed at high altitudes. Ready to eat appetisers in the form of munches i.e. pepper munch and lemon munch were developed by using response surface methodology and central composite rotatable design with active ingredients as variables and quality parameters such as acidity, sugars and sensory acceptability score as responses. The ingredients like raisins and dates were pre-processed by frying in ghee (butter oil) while juice was extracted from pseudolemon and lemon. Pepper was pulverized to a fine powder prior to main processing. The optimized composition of ingredients was processed further by dehydration and concentration technique. The products had 8.7-9.8% fat, 6.5-7.9% protein and 72-73% carbohydrates supplying about 80 Kcals/20 g munch. The appetisers packed in metalized polyester pouches had a shelf-life of 9 months at room temperature (18-33 °C) as well as at 37 °C.