Novel Edible Coating Based on Aloe Vera Gel to Maintain Pistachio Quality

Pistachio has a crucial economic value, but show loss of quality due to unfavorable conditions during storage. Active packaging is a relatively novel concept of packaging that changes the conditions of the packaged food to extend its shelf-life and improve its safety. Because Aloe vera gel has been recently explored as edible coating, the objective of the present study was to evaluate the ability of this gel to reduce/control the loss of post harvest fresh pistachio quality, compare with a natural polysaccharide-chitosan, as an established coating material with antifungal activity. Freshly harvested pistachio fruits were coated with water for control, A. vera gel (100% and 50%), chitosan (.05%, .5% and 1%), mixture of them (50% A. vera gel+1% chitosan), and (50% A. vera gel+0.5% chitosan). The coated and uncoated pistachio was stored at 4°C for 1 month. The parameters analyzed included physiological water conservation (PWC), sensory analysis for pistachio quality (colour and marketability), degree of spoilage, and Peroxide value of oil extracted from them. Results indicate that chitosan and A. vera gel are potential candidates to preserve post-harvest quality of pistachio; either showed that for coating of pistachio, chitosan .05% is better than other coating that followed with A. vera gel 50%+Chitosan .5% coating. At last A. vera gel 100% is undesirable for coating of pistachio.