Particle Size Analysis of Tomato Powder

Abstract

Particle‐size information is a measure of the quality of processed food products. In this investigation, a study has been made for the particle‐size analysis (PSA) of blanched and unblanched samples of tomato powder. The outcome indicates that the standard percentile reading D (v, 0.5), D (v, 0.1) and D (v, 0.9) for blanched and unblanched tomato‐powder samples are 260.30, 308.78 and 100.49 μm and 108.57, 609.24 and 521.76 μm, respectively. Volume mean diameter [D 4,3] is higher for unblanched sample (335.87 μm) compared with blanched tomato powder (288.41 μm). Surface area mean diameter [D 3,2] is also higher for unblanched sample (200.51 μm) than blanched tomato powder (158.71 μm). Furthermore, the specific surface area (Aw) is higher for blanched sample (0.0378 m2/g) as compared with unblanched sample (0.0299 m2/g). The blanching treatment slightly affects the grinding/milling quality/size‐reduction characteristics and results in uniform particle size, which is depicted by a narrow range of particle‐size distribution of tomato‐powder samples. Blanched tomato powder is finer as compared with unblanched tomato powder. The narrow range of particle sizes of the blanched sample of tomato powder shows stability during particle‐size settlement, as it is a very important and much desirable parameter for its use in processing of another product preparation.