Vol. 10, Issue 8 (2021)

Author(s):
Gangakhedkar PS, Machewad GM, Deshpande HW, Katke S and Hemanth M

Abstract:
The present investigation was carried out to study the physical and chemical characteristics of bitter gourd and bitter gourd powder. Physical properties of bitter gourd are such as colour, shape, length, width and weight were determined. The colour of fresh bitter gourd was light green, shape was spindle, length 18.3 cm, width 4.56 cm and weight was 175.86 gm. Physical such as bulk density, true density, compressibility index, angle of repose were determined for prepared bitter gourd powder. It revealed that bulk density and tapped density of bitter gourd powder was 500kg m^-3 and 666kg m^-3 respectively. Angle of repose of bitter gourd powder was 35.5⁰. Compressibility index and static coefficient of friction of bitter gourd powder was 24.92% and 0.83 respectively. Moisture content, protein, fat and carbohydrates were also evaluated. Further, chemical composition was reported and results showed that the moisture content 92.2%, fat 1.02%, protein 0.90%, ash 1.4% and crude fibre 2.08% in bitter gourd powder. The obtained study was found to be significant for the designers and processers in designing equipment for processing.