Development of power operated curry leaf (Murraya Koenigii) Stripper

Abstract

Curry leaf (Murraya Koenigii) is used as a leafy spice in Indian cuisine for its characteristic flavour and is reported to have a lot of medicinal values. It is one of the prime ingre dients in masala and pickle indus tries in raw/dried or powdered form. These products have large demand in both domestic and international markets. The primary requirement to obtain the curry leaves is to strip the leaflets from the stem. At pres ent this operation is being carried out manually in unhygienic condi tions. To reduce the drudgery of the human labour and to increase the output capacity, a power oper ated curry leaf stripper has been developed to strip out the leaflets from the branch. The equipment comprises four major components viz., power source, pulling mecha nism, stripping mechanism and collecting tray. With this device, an operator can safely strip 36-44 kg of curry leaflets per hour. The saving in labour and cost over conventional method is to the tune of 80 percent and 60 percent, respectively. An In dian patent no 1146/MUM/2008 has been assigned for the equipment and the equipment has been com mercialized