Effects of Different Pre-Treatments on Browning of Frozen Banana Slices

A study was undertaken to examine the effects of different pre-treatments on browning of frozen banana slices. The bananas were ripe at 21^oC temperature with 91 per cent humidity upto the desired stage #4 (18-20^oB) and different pre-treatments such as chemical dip in different concentrated solutions {0.1% (w/v) ascorbic acid + 0.05% (w/v) citric acid, 1% (w/v) ascorbic acid + 0.5% (w/v) citric acid and 10% (w/v) ascorbic acid + 5% (w/v) citric acid}, blanching (65^oC/5min) and sugar solution dip (60^oB/30 min), were used to prevent from browning before freezing at -33^oC for one hour. The browning rate was high initially when the respiration rate was highest and then decreased or increased according to the pre-treatments effectiveness. Different pre-treatments showed various patterns of browning. Therefore, qualitative results found that the oxidation process was the most inhibited by ascorbic acid + citric acid and the least inhibited by the blanching for storage of frozen banana slices at -20^oC.