PRODUCTION OF TOMATO POWDER AND DRIED SLICES FOR USE IN SOME FOODSTUFFS

Full ripe tomato fruits from two varieties (t.JC 82 and Peto 86) were used for preparing tomato powder and tomato dried slices. High ly­copene tomato powder was prepared from tomato juice by partially sep­aration of the serum before drying in both ventilated oven and solar dryers at 55^°C. Tomato slices were prepared by slicing the tomato fruit to 1 cm thick, and heating in ventilated oven at 110^°C for 10 min then dried in both ventilated oven and solar dryers as in tomato powder. To­mato powder was used in some new food manufacturing applications such as normal ketchup powder, hot ketchup powder, koushary sauce powder, potato chips, sausage and tomato paste. Chemical composition of tomato powder and tomato slices compared with the fresh tomato fruits were determined. Total titratable acidity, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars, total sugars, ascorbic acid and oxalic acid content on dry weight basis decreased in all samples of tomato powder compared with the same contents in fresh tomatoes, while lycopene and crude fi­ber increased. Slight changes in total titratable acidity, ash, reducing sugars, non-reducing sugars, total sugars, crude fiber and oxalic acid content, while a decrement in ascorbic acid and lycopene content calcu­lated on dry weight basis were observed in all samples of tomato slices compared to the same contents in fresh tomatoes. Microbiological count revealed that all samples contained less than 30 colony forming unit per gram for both total bacterial count, mold and yeast count. Or­ganoleptic evaluation showed that tomato powder, tomato slices and food products prepared from tomato powder with special reference to their constituents were highly acceptable.