Development of 'ready-to-eat' Product Using Poultry Eggs

In the present study, a process for the production of 'ready-to-eat' eggs in gravy has been optimized. Eggs used for the present study were boiled for several temperatures and time combinations by considering the age of the eggs, ease of peeling and edible loss during peeling. The five days old egg boiled for 8 minutes recorded minimum hardness value of 6.62 N with 2.5 per cent edible loss and 20 days old eggs boiled for 11 min recorded maximum hardness of 10.23 N with 0.19 per cent edible loss. Similarly, the weight of edible portion and shells of boiled eggs ranged from 86.78 to 90.70 per cent and 8.91 to 11.69 per cent, respectively. The study clearly revealed that eggs to gravy in 2:3 ratio filled in 20 x 15 cm pouches was suitable and hence adjudged as optimum pouch size and filling ratio. Boiled eggs packed in pouches along with gravy and thermally processed at 95±2⁰C for 30 minutes recorded a hardness value less than 13.0 and under organoleptical evaluation recorded maximum value (8.76). The freshly boiled eggs used for the present study were white in colour, as for as albumin is considered and recorded an 'L' value of 84.54 and yolk was light yellow in its appearance and recorded a 'b' value of 47.85. Gravy prepared for the study was brownish red in appearance and recorded a 'b' value of 53.03 and 'a' value of 11.52. Gravy recorded a TSS value of 14.8⁰ Brix and a pH value of 6.8 indicating that it is neutral in nature. The texture of egg was highly soft with completely solidified condition of both albumin and yolk. The albumin moisture content was about 83.07 per cent and recorded a hardness value of 9.63N and a springiness value of 0.556. The protein content of boiled egg was 13.65 per cent.