Description

Spices are one of the essential elements of Indian recipes besides taste & aroma. They are also being used for medicinal values since ancient times. Ginger & Turmeric have an important place in spices. World's 50% ginger and 90% turmeric are produced in India. A technology package has been developed for processing of fresh ginger and turmeric into dried and powder form. In order to clean and remove adhered soil with rhizomes, ginger and turmeric are washed with water. Ginger is peeled with knife or by rubbing against gunny bags in order to fasten the drying process. Due care is taken to avoid the loss of material during peeling. The turmeric is cooked in water with 0.1% Sodium bicarbonate for 40-50 min to obtain good colour and even distribution of colour in the flesh. Drying is performed in solar dryer for 3 days. The outer surface of rhizomes shrivels due to drying and does not appeal properly. Polishing is therefore, required for smoothing the dried rhizomes. Like other spices, ginger and turmeric rhizomes can be powdered using a pulverizer. The material is shifted to 50 mesh & packaged in appropriate size polyethylene bags, sealed & marketed .The Turmeric powder need impregnated packaging material to prevent the loss of volatile oil. Ginger peeling machine, Solar dryer and Polisher have been developed to facilitate these operations in efficient manner.