Development and performance evaluation of hand-operated mango seed decorticator.

Mango seed kernel, a by-product of mango fruit can be consumed as the safe food if properly processed. A hand operated mango seed decorticator was developed to substitute the unhygienic and unsafe existing method. The device consisted of four major sections such as frame support, feeding unit, sliding unit and decorticating unit. Provisions were made to position the seeds inside the seed holder and the splitting blades to penetrate and break open the stony endocarp along the cleavage. The performance of the machine was evaluated and was compared to that of traditional method. The device resulted in higher whole kernel recovery (85.95 ± 1.53%), decortication capacity (1.92 ± 0.04 kg h-1) than traditional method with 58.37 ± 1.76% and 1.10 ± 0.09 kg h-1, respectively. Traditional method incurred higher material loss with broken kernels making them unsafe for consumption if not processed quickly. Statistical analysis also indicated that the efficacy of traditional method was dependent on personal skill as there was operational variability in the data set with higher coefficient of variation. Therefore, the developed mango seed decorticator is expected to assist in utilization of mango kernel as safe food as well as to reduce the drudgery of the operation. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13197-021-05256-5. © Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (India) 2021.