Preparation and storage of mushroom curry in retort pouches

Abstract

Ready-to-serve mushroom ‘Curry’ was successfully prepared, packed and stored in retortable pouches. Unblanched and sliced (longitudinal) mushroom were used because blanched mushrooms turned darker and softer after retorting and with whole mushrooms the flushing of air was not proper which caused spoilage due to entrapped air. Moreover, whole mushrooms could not retain their shape. Retortable pouches (105 μ thick) had outer polypropylene layer (80 μ), middle aluminium layer 12.5 μ and inner polyester layer (12.5 μ); size 20x16 cm, weight 10g, seal size 10mm and lip size 4mm. In the best treatment 100g sliced mushrooms were filled in pouches followed by 50g curry concentrate (oil fried onion, garlic, ginger and spices). After sealing and over-pressure retorting at Fo 10 (Final 13.2), the pouches were stored at the ambient conditions. Sensory evaluation showed that the product had high acceptability (8.25 on a scale of 10) which reduced very slightly (7.68) during storage for 12 months. No deformity, leakage or spoilage was noticed and the product remained sterile and acceptable even after 12 months of storage at the ambient conditions. Though the present study has been conducted on the common button mushroom (Agaricus bisporus), the technology developed can be easily extended and extrapolated to other mushrooms with slight modifications in the pretreatment, recipe ingredients and retort parameters. It is the first report of mushroom curry in retort pouch.