Status of PHT of Chillies

Agricultural Engineering Today, Vol.
25 (5-6) : 58-78, 2001
STATUS OF POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY OF CHILLIES
S. Kaleemullah 1 , R. Kailappan 2 and Varadharaju 3
ABSTRACT
Chillies, which are called as red peppers of capsicums con-

stitute an important commercial crop used as condiment, culinary
supplement or as a vegetable. Though India is the largest pro-
ducer of chilleies in the world, it exports only 5 to 8 per cent of
Downloaded From IP - 14.139.224.90 on dated 24-Dec-2020
the production. The red colour of chillies, which is mainly due

to the carotenoid pigments, plays an important role in exporting.
Members Copy, Not for Commercial Sale
Since the intitial moisture content of the freshly harvested red chil-
www.IndianJournals.com
lies is very high (300-400% dry basis.) it is difficult to process

or store chillies at such high moisture content and it should be
processed immediately. In this context, a review on traditional
method of sun drying, improved method of sun drying, solar dry-
ing, mechanical drying is reported. Similarly a review on chilli
seed extraction, packaging and storage is also reported.
I . INTRODUCTION
Chillies are the dried ripe fruits of the species of genus Capsicum, which
probably comes from the Latin word Capsa, means chest of box, because of
its shape (the fruit encloses the seeds very neatly, as in a box). The early
Aztecs of Mexico called them "chilli", and that name is the most commonly
one used today around the world, with some variant spellings like chile, chili,
chilly etc. (Terry Berke and Shieh, 2000). They are also called as red pep-
pers of capsicums and they constitute an important commercial crop used as
I. Research Scholar, 2. Professor, 3. Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Processing,

Tamil Nadu Agricultural Univeristy, Coimbatore - 641 003.
58
condiment, culinary supplement or as a vegetable. In India, among the spices
consumed (per capita consumption), dried chillies contribute a major share.
Chillies are cultivated mainly in tropical and subtropical countries namely Af-
rica, India, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and USA. Almost all varieties of low and
medium pungency that are cultivated on Indian field belong to Capsicum
Annum. The Indian "Sannam" variety of chilli is known all over the world.
Area and Production
India is the largest producer of chillies in the world. It is grown on

about 957 thousand/ha area and annual production is about 945 thousand
tonnes with an average yield on about 988 kg/ha. At present, Andhra Pradesh,
Karnataka, Maharastra, Orissa, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal
account for 85.8 percent of the total area and 89.3 percent of the total
production of chillies. The major chilli growing districts in Inda are Guntur,
Warangal, Khammam, Dharwad, Nagpur (Hosamani, 1993). The main

marketing season for chillies in India is February-May.
Export of Chilies
India's export of chillies has risen from 11,983 tonnes during 1989-90
to 55,750 tonnes during 1998-99 (Table 1). Though, India is the largest pro-
ducer of chillies in the world, its export is only 5 to 8 percent of its produc-
tion. The world imports of chillies are estimated as one hundred thousand
tonnes. At present, the United States is the largest impoprter of chillies from
India followed by Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia. Chillies with higher
colour value and less pungency are preferred in Europe and the West. The
main competitors for Indian chillies exprot are China and Pakistan.
The mam quality considerations m exports, particularly to Europe and

USA are beside cleanliness, moisture content, very low levels of aflotoxin,
59
pesticide residue and micro-biological contaminants like Salmonella, E. Coli
etc., and capsaicin content (which should be 0.10 to 0.45 percent) and high
colour values. Normally chillies with 11 percent moisture content are ac-
ceptable in the export market but Indian chillies sometimes contain up to 16
percent moisture (Vikas Singhal, 1999).
Maturity, Colour and Pungency of Chillies
Fruits attain full maturity around 35 days after anthesis and then fruit
colour turns from green to red or purple depending on variety. After matu-
rity of fruits, there is loss of moisture. At full maturity, fruits contain nearly
70% moisture (wet basis) depending on whether partially dried on the plant
or harvested while still succulent (Hosmani, 1993)
The most important quality characters in chillies are the pungency and
the colour. The pungency of chillies is due to the compound capsaicin. The
nature of pungency has been established as a mixture of seven holologous-
Table 1. Year-wise export of chillies from India
Year Quantity Value

(tonnes) (Rs. in Crores)
1989-90 11,983 26.85

1990-91 24,534 27.56
1991-92 33,398 97.91
1992-93 16,850 67.86
1993-94 28,619 66.95
1994-95 26,279 57.11
1995-96 56,073 194.15
1996-97 51,891 209.64
1997-98 43,480 104.13
1998-99 55,750 210.13
(Vikas Singhal, 1999)
60
branched chain alkyl vanillyl amides, named capsaicinoids. The distribution
of the pungent principles in the fruit is uneven and is the greatest in the pla-
centa (Anu and Peter, 2000). According to Govindarajan (1985), the group
paprika contains less than 0.1 % of capsaicinoids, the best grade of Spanish
paprika having 0-0.0003% and for the pungent grade, a maximum of 0.5%
pungency level in chillies varies from 0.1-1.4%.
The red colour in chillies is mainly due to the carotenoid pigments. The
major coloring pigments in parprika are capsanthin and capsorubin compris-
ing 60% of the carotenoids. The other major pigments are Betacarotene,
Violaxanthin, Neoxanthin and Lutein (Anu and Peter, 2000).
2. POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY OF CHILLIES

Chillies, which contain high moisture content are highly perishable and
hence processing and storage of chillies are of considerable importance both

to the farmers as well as to the processor and consumer. Since the initial
moisture content of the freshly harvested red chillies is very high in the range
of 300-400% (d. b.), it is difficult to process or store it at such high moisture
content. The shelf life of freshly harvested chilles is estimated to be 2-3 days
based on 12-15% cumulative loss (Anonymous, 1983). It is essential to re-
duce the moisture content and provide aeration to the chillies after harvest-
ing to avoid development of microflora and subsequent loss of quality or
total spoilage (Harpal Singh and Anwar Alam, 1982). Therefore, the mois-
ture content of the fresh red chillies has sun drying, solar drying and me-
chanical drying.
2.1 Drying
Traditional method of sun drying
Traditionally, fresh chillies are preserved by drying the fruits immedi-

ately after harvesting under the sun without any special form of treatment.
Sun drying remains the most. widely practiced method throughout Asia, Af-
61
rica, Central and South America. In India, fresh chillies may be initially
heaped indoors, for 2-3 days, so that partially ripe fruits if any in the lot
will develop a uniform red colour. Partially ripe fruits, if dried without cur-
ing, develop white patches and such admixture of fruits fetch less value in
the market.
In traditional drying, the fruits are spread out in the sun on hard dry
ground/concrete floorslflat roofs of houses by spreading chillies in thin
layers. The chillies are turned frequently so that drying is uniform and there
is no discoloration or mould growth. Sun drying of chillies takes 14-21 days
depending on weather. The drying fruits are heaped at night and covered
with tarpaulins or gunny bags for equilibrium of the moisture. as no pucca
platforms or mattings are used, the chillies get contaminated with dirt, dust,
infection, etc. all the time. During the drying period (November-March),
there are sometimes occasional showers and at times if heavy down pour,
the damage to the produce is as high as 70-80 percent of the total quantity
(Laul et aI., 1970)
Improved method o.{ sun drying
Laul et aI, (1970) have studied the ways of improving sun drying
method for chillies. Drying in single and multi-tier tray system, in sun and
shade and also pricking, blanching and checking (chemical treatment) pre-
treatments were studied. In pricking pre-treatment, each pod was pricked lon-
gitudinally on one side and in blanching method, the chillies were dipped in
hot water 98.5°C for 3 min, cooled immediately and dried. In chemical treat-
ment methods, one treatment was done by dipping chillies for 5 min in a
solution containing 25g of potassium carbonate and 15ml of refined olive oil
per liter of water and drained.
It took 12 days for pricked sample, 7 days for blanched sample and
15 days for control to dry the chillies (Laul et aI., 1970). The colour was
not affected in the case of pricked sample but it was rather dark in blanched
sample. The chemical treated samples reduced the drying time and it took
62
only 6 days to dry the samples. The samples treated with potassium car-
bonate and olive oil showed sharp colour and glossy appearance.
It appeared that the presence of oil brought out the colour.
Laul et al. (1970) also reported that the four-tray tier system
(11 kg/m 2 tray load) took about the same time (i.e. 14 days) as single tray
(11 kg/m2 tray load) tier system for drying the product as against three weeks
in commercial practice. The shade drying took the same time as that of di-
rect sun light drying when the tray load of shade dying was reduced to half
( 5 kg/m 2).
Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore

developed an improved technology for sun drying of chillies whiCh has

several advantages over the traditional method (Anonymous, 1979). In this
method, the fresh chillies were dipped in the water-based emulsion (Dipsol)
for 5 minutes and drained. The chillies were spread on racks having multi-
tier wire net trays at the rate of 5-10 kg/m2 of tray area. The treated mate-
rial was dried to commercial level moisture content in about a week's time.
One hundred kilograms of dipsol containing Potassium carbonate (205%), re-
fined groundnut oil (1.0%) gum acacia (0.1 %) and butylated hydroxy anisole
(0.00 1%) was prepared with water. Fifteen liters of this emulsion was re-
quired to treat 100 kg of fresh chillies. The main advantages of this method
are:
1) Rate of drying is faster and hence the time taken for drying is
only a week compared to 15-21 days in the traditional method.
2) Requires less space.
3) Better retention of colour and pugency.
4) Gives higher yield of finished product (2% more) due to mini-
mum breakage and loss of seeds.
Har Pal Singh and Anwar Alam (1982) conducted a study on sun
drying of chillies on various surfaces viz, tarpaulin and mud floor. Sun
drying on tarpaulin surface was done during November and March with ma-
terial spread of 3 and 6 kg/m 2 respectively. However drying on mud floor
was carried out with material spread of 3 kg/m 2 in November. The tarpaulin
63
and mud surface took 10.5 and 15.8 days respectively to dry chillies of 6
kg/m2 in March. Drying on tarpaulin surface is recommended because it is
more convenient and remunerative than drying on mud floor when windy,
sunny and dust free days are available.
Chandy et al. (1992) studiedd the effect of some physical treatments

on sun drying characteristics of red chillies. The study was conducted to
evaluate the effect of pricking, destalking and chopping on the drying char-
acteristics of fresh red chillies. It was observed that the chopping treatment
excelled overall followed by pricking, destalking and control. The chopped
chillies took only 18 h whereas the pricked, destalked and control took 20,
50 and 54 h respectively to bring down the moisture content of chillies from
428.3 to 9.9% (d.b.).
Shivhare et al. (1995) dried chillies by sun-drying method on various

surfaces viz., concrete floor with black tar coating, wire mesh elevated to 0.5
and 1.0 m height. Each sample was spread over the surface at the rate of 2
kg/m 2 to achieve thin layer of single chilli. High rates of drying were ob-
served while chillies were dried on concrete floor coated with black tar. The
drying time required to reduce the moisture from its initial level to about 5%
was 16-23 sun-hours for elevated wire mesh platforms.
Mangaraj et al.(2001 ) dried punched and unpunched 'jwala' variety of

chillies on cemented floor in open sun and it took 102 and 150 h respec-
tively to dry the chillies from 300 to 8-9% (d.b.).
Solar drying
A solar dryer will improve upon the sun-drying techniques and it has
the following advantages.
•:. Solar radiation is an inexhaustible souree of energy and it

is available for about 2600 to 3200 hlyear in most of India
(Palaniappan, 1997)
64
.:. Reduction in drying time
.:. Cleaner and better quality product, free from dirt, dust and
insect infestation
.:. Operating and maintenance costs of solar dryers are low,
even though the initial investment is high
Garg and Krishnan ( 1974) dried chillies in a solar cabinet dryer hav-
ing a basal area of 1.37 m 2 and volume, 0.324 m3. 'The chillies having ini-
tial moisture content of 79 to 85 % (w. b. ) were dried in winter season.
The average air temperature in the dryer exceeded 22.8° C above the day-
time average temperature when chillies were kept inside. By the use of solar
dryer, the drying time for chillies was reduced to nearly half of the conven-
tional drying method. The quality of the chillies dried by solar dryer was also
superior. The Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu developed a solar dryer

of 2.5 x 2.5 m for drying chillies (Anonymous, 1978). The solar dryer dried
the chillies in 4-5 days and improved the colour and storage characteristics.
The gadget was made up of mud, stone, pebbles and glass panes and was
very simple. The solar dryer capacity was 80 kg of chillies per batch.
Palaniappan (1997) reported on quality improvement in spices by solar

drying. A roof integrated solar air collector was made on corrugated aluminum
roof of the spices powder factory near Madurai of Tamil Nadu and used the
hot air to dry the chillies from 14-18% (w.b.) to 8% (w.b.). Solar air heaters
having a collector area of 290 m2 were designed to dry 5.25 tonnes of chillies
per day. The air heater was a roof integrated type and the corrugated
aluminum roof of the factory was painted with commercial dull black paint.
A 4 mm thick tempered glass cover was fixed over the roof using aluminum
support frames. The edges were closed air tight with two layers of galvanized
iron sheets with 50 mm thick mineral wool insulation. Provisions were made
for ambient air entry and it makes five passes over the collector. The lower
side of aluminum roof was packed with 65 mm mineral wool using 5 mm
thick cardboard support (Fig. 1 ). The collector was divided into six units and
area of each unit was 48m2 • The hot air from each panel was collected through
a common insulated duct, which was connected to the inlet port of a 12.5
65
kW centrifugal blower. The hot air for chillies was introduced at four points
in the tunnel dryer. Filters were used at the ambient air entry point in the
collector to prevent dirt and other impurities. The spices powder-making
factory reported that the fuel consumption was reduced to 10% and there was
a substantial improvement in the dried product quality leading to better
powdering. A temperature rise of 15-46°C above ambient temperature was
observed in solar air collector. The payback period for a profit making
company was two years with government subsidy and three years without
subsidy.
A solar cabinet dryer (Fig. 2) was developed at Central Institute of

Agricultural Engineering, Bhopal and the techno economics of 'chilli drying
in it was s-tudied (Harpal Singh and Anwar Alam, 1982). The angle of
inclination of collector was kept at 17° from horizontal and the bottom of
dryer was kept at 5° inclination from horizontal for draining out the water.
The sidewall of the dryer was made out of 3 mm thick plywood and bottom
was built with 3 mm thick plywood fitted with 32gauge aluminium foil for
reflecting back the sunrays. On the top, a single glass (4 mm thick) radiation
shield mounted on wooden frame into two segments was provided for easy
handling of the glass shield.
The CIAE solar cabinet dryer was tested with material spreads of 3, 9
and 12. kg/m 2 in November, January, March and it took 4.2, 5.5 and 3 days
to dry chillies respectively. The chillies were dried quickly in March as there
were strong winds opposing the flow of air from the dryer outlet. The chil-
lies loaded in trays kept at 17° from horizontal acted as solar collector due
to their red colour. The drying cost varied from Rs.26.63-133.62 per quintal
of dry chillies with material spread range 3 to 12 kg/m 2• The profit due to
drying varied from Rs.150.28 to 257.27 per quintal of dry chillies with a profit
cost ratio ranging from 1.12 to 9.66. In situations, where large quantities are
to be dried (high material spreads @ 6 kg/m 2), the solar cabinet dryer will
be more economical, convenient, hygienic and little vulnerable to weather haz-
ards.
66
Joy et al. (2001 ) used a German made solar dryer to dry red chillies.
The dryer consists basically of a plastic foil covered flat plate solar air heater,
a drying tunnel and a small axial flow fans. The entire \floor of both solar
\
air heater and the drying tunnel has a length of 17 m ( 10) m for tunnel and
7m for heater) and 2 m breadth. Solar air heater and the tunnel are covered
with a transparent UV stabilized PE plastic foil, 0.2 mm in thickness with a
transmissivity of 92% for visible radiation. Chilli fruits were spread in one
fruit layer on a clean perforated mat kept inside the drying tunnel of the so-
lar tunnel dryer about 2 cm above the surface. Only two days were taken
for the optimum drying of red chillies in the solar tunnel dryer where as it
took 7-10 days for conventional method. When the temperature and relative
humidity of ambient air were 34.3-36°C and 51.1-54.9% the dryer tempera-
ture and relative humidity were 47.9-58.5°C and 40.2-48.3% respectively. The
capsaicin content and the colour value were high in the solar tunnel dried
samples.
Mangaraj et al. (2001) dried punched and unpunched 'jwala' variety of

chillies in a solar cabinet dryer and it took 36 and 54 h respectively to dry
the chillies from 300 to 8-9% (d.b.).
Greenhouse type solar dryer
Mangaraj et al. (2001) used a greenhouse-type solar dryer developed

in the Division of Agricultural Engineering, Indian Agricultural Research In-
stitute, New Delhi to dry punched and unpunched 'jwala' variety of chillies.
A continuous air inlet of one feet width was provided on one side of the
green house along the bottom of the vertical wall for the entry of natural
air. A chimney of 6.06 m height was installed with the green house at the
other end of natural ventilation. Natural air entered at one end of the green
house and the moisture laden air escaped through chimney, which provided
suitable condition for drying. Drying racks and trays were provided in the
greenhouse for drying of chillies. Greern house-type solar dryer took 90 h
for the unpunched and 66 h for the punched chillies to dry the samples from
300 to 8-9% (d. b. ).
67
Mechanical drying
Mechanical drying of chillies has the advantage over traditional sun dry-
ing in producing a better and more consistent' quality product, taking less time
and minimizing crop losses. In South Carolina, tobacco barns were often used
for this purpose. In the United States, the commercial processors bring the
harvested chillies to drying centers in bulk or in sacks, after which they are
washed, inspected and spread out on trays, either as whole pods or sliced In
2.5 cm lengths. The fruits are dried in heated buildings or more usually, in
tunnel dryers or stainless steel continuous-belt or belt-trough dryers, expos-
ing fruits to a forced current of air at temperatures of 50-60°C, hereby re-
ducing their moisture content to 7-8%. As shown in Fig.3, some processors
use a two-stage method, first drying fruits up to a moisture content of 12-
20%, then storing it at O°C and at the time of grinding, the drying is contin-
ued until pods contain 7-8% moisture or less (Pruthi, 1998).

Lease and Lease (1962) studied the effects of forced air-drying on Caro-
lina hot pepper and reported that the sliced pods took only 50% of the time
required to dry whole pods and a superior initial colour was obtained. The
optimum drying temperature for a good quality product was found to be 65°C;
single layers of succulent whole fruits dried to 8% moisture content in 12 h,
and in 6 h when in sliced form.
Dhanegopal et aI. (1988) studied the drying characteristics of chillies

at an airflow rate of 0.064 m3/s and concluded that the total drying time re-
quired reaching the equilibrium moisture content (8.9% d.b.) decreased from
40 to 18 h when the drying air temperature increased from 40 to 60°C. The
drying was in faIling rate period, after seed moisture reached 25% (d. b.). It
was attributed to low diffusion of moisture within the seed than that of evapo-
ration of moisture from the surface below 25% moisture content (d.b.). The
heat utilization factor decreased with the increase in drying air temperature.
68
PARTITION SHEET METAL
AIR PASSAGE CORRUGATED
FACT ORY ROOF
ALUMINIUM
FRAME --7!-~L--:"z.:.:s:.,.L.....;...~~-.z'~~~
SECTION - - _ " "
HEAT RADIATION
TR ANSPARENT
COVER
ABSORBER
(ALUMINIUM ROOF
WITH BLACK PAINT)

INSULATION
(MINERAL WOOL)
CARD BOARD
HEAL CON~UCTION
Fig. 1 : Concept of the roof integrated solar air collector
____Chimney with
, aspirator
Rack bollom built
in wire mesh
Top glass sealing
J
1 _ - - - - Wooden frame
Dimensions in mm
Fig. 2 Solar Cabinet Dryer

69
Chillies for processing (100 kg)
Waste: 3 kg
Water evaporated: 72.8 kg

Dried chillies (20010 moisture): 24.2 kg

Drying (Secondary)
Water evaporated: 4.2 kg
Dried chillies (3% moisture): 20 kg
Waste: negligible
Chilli flakes: 20 kg
Container closing
Fig. 3 : Flow chart for artificial drying of chillies (Pruthi, 1998)

70
Phirke et al. (1992) used a waste fired dryer (Fig.4) developed by
Punjabno Deshmukh Krishi Vidyapeeth, Akola for drying fresh red chillies
of 'G3' variety. The dryer consisted of mainly four components viz., furnace,
heat exchanger, drying chamber and blower. The dryer had ten sliding trays
in five tiers accommodating 200 kg of fresh red chillies per batch. An aver-
age air velocity of 1.22 m/s was maintained throughout the drying process
which was less than the terminal velocity of dried' chillies. The heat energy
was obtained by burning the agricultural waste material. A blower was oper-
ated by a single phase 1.0 hp electric motor to blow the air through the fur-
nace and force the same into the product. Drying air temperature of 53±2°C
with 10 cm bed thickness gave better drying avoiding the loss of capsaicin.
The chillies in the lowest tier dried after 12 h and successive tiers from be-
low required 12.5, 13, 14 and 15 h respectively to bring moisture content
from 252.88 to 20% (d. b. ).

Heat exchanger
Drying bin
Furnace
Air blower
Fig. 4 : Waste fired dryer for fresh red chilli
Chandy et al. ( 1992) conducted studies to evaluate the effect of prick-

ing, destalking and chopping on the drying characteristics of fresh red chil-
lies dried in a fluidized bed dryer. It was observed that the chopping treat-
ment excelled overall followed by pricking, destalking and control. It took
2.5 h for chopped chillies, 4 hours for pricked chillies, 7 h 50 min for
destalked chillies and 8 h for control to dry the chillies from 200.87 to 9.13%
(d. b.) moisture content. The total energy required for effecting the treatments
and drying the chillies was 206.28, 177.08, 13.93 and 6.85 MJ/kg of con-
trolled, destalked, pricked and chopped chillies, respectively.
71
Shivhare et al.(1995) used a batch dryer and studied the drying char-
acteristics of chillies at three temperatures (50, 52.5 and 55°C) and at three
inlet air velocities (1.0, 1.25 and 1.5 m/s). The moisture reduction did not
increase with increase in air vetocity. Reduction in moisture content from initial
to final value increased with increase in temperature of the drying air. At 1.5
m/s air velocity, the moisture reduction values of chillies (with stalk) at 50,
52.5 and 55°C were 262.7% in 15 h, 244.2% in 12.5 hand 249.3% in 12
h, respectively. The corresponding values for chillies without stalk were 194%
in 12 h, 238.8% in 12.5 hand 334.1% in 11 h respectively. It was noted
that the chillies without stalk dried faster as compared to the chillies with stalk.
The time of drying increased with the increase of bed height. A moisture re-
duction of 237.1 % was obtained in 13.5 h at 52.5°C and 1.5 m/s for a bed
height of 0.15 m; whereas it took less than 12.5 h while the bed height was
reduced to 0.1 m. The capsaicin content of chillies dried at 52. 5°C was
0.348% as compared to 0.291% for chillies dried at 50°C.

Yamuna (1998) studied the drying characteristics of chillies and reported

that the optimum drying air temperature to dry chillies in static and fluidize~
bed dryer was 45°C.
Mangaraj et al. (2001) used a tray type mechanical dryer and dried
punched and unpunched chillies of 'jwala'. variety. The chillies were dried at
45°C with an airflow rate of 0.019 m3/min. It took 26 h for the unpunched
and 16 h for punched chillies to dry the samples from 300 to 8-9% (d.b.)
2.2. Seed Extraction
The seed extraction of chillies is a cumbersome process and painful due

to the pungency emitted by the fruits during manual crushing. This method
is very slow (1 kg/h) and the people exposed to such an environment can-
not work continuously for a longer period. Its pungency results in continu-
ous sneezing and irritation of human body. Many times it is difficult to get
labor for this operation. To over come this drudgery operation, chilli seed
extractors were developed.
72
TNAU chilli seed extractor
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore developed a chilli seed

extractor of capacity 50 kg of dry fruits per hour (Sreenarayanan and
Viswanathan, 1988). It consists of a feed hopper, a beater assembly, a con-
cave with a cover, a stand and an electric motor of 0.5 hp (Fig.5). The con-
cave is made of 3 mm thick mild steel with 120 mm depth and 230 mm
width for a length of 525 mm. A cover having the same dimensions is hinged
to one edge of the concave assembly for easy opening and closing. Inside
the concave, a shaft of 30 mm diameter is mounted on bearings at two ends.
Beaters of 6 mm thickness with 75 mm length and 20 mm width numbering
40, are fixed on the periphery of the shaft at 90° interval in helical fashion
in order to enable forward movement of the material as the seeds are sepa-
rated by the beating action. A 'V' belt to the beater assembly transmits the
power from motor, which rotate at 700 rpm. The dried chilli fruits fed through
the feed hopper are subjected to the beating action and thereby the seeds
are separated and discharged through the outlet. The seed extraction effciency
is 96% and the germination is 85-90%. The seeds will be separated from the
hulls manually.
V belt Outlet
Side view Front view
Fig. 5 TNAU chilli seed extractor

73
PKV chilli seed extractor
Dr. Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidya Peeth, Akola developed a chilli

seed extractor of capacity 50 kg of dry fruits per hour (Phirke et al., 1997).
The chilli seed extractor consists of a drum with spikes enclosed inside the
casing with inlet and feeding hopper at the top and outlet at the bottom
(Fig.6). The spikes are arranged in such a way that when the cylinder is ro-
tated, each spike on drum passes between the, two successive spikes on sta-
tionary belt. This arrangement enables to break all the fruits entering in cas-
ing. The outlet opens into a rotary perforated sieve enclosed in concentric
cylinder. To separate small husk pieces and powder from seed, a blower and
a cyclone separator are provided at seed outlet pipe. The chilli seed extrac-
tor operates with 0.5 hp, 1440 rpm electric motor.
The well-dried chillies are fed to the crushing drum through the hop-
per. The chilli fruits are broken into pieces and the seed are detached due to
gentle impact. The mixture enters the rotary sieve where seed is separated
from the husk. The blower at seed outlet separates remaining small pieces of
husk and powder from seed. The clean seed was obtained in two passes
i.e. the husk from first pass was again fed to the extractor. The seed extrac-
tion efficiency is 99%. The moisture content of the chilli should be 9-10%
(w.b.); otherwise clogging will take place in the crushing drum and in its
outlet.
Hopper
Crushing
Cover for drum
rotary sieve
Cyclone Inlet to
separator rotary sieve
Electric motor
Seed oullet
Frame
Fig. 6 : PKV chilli seed extractor

74
2.3. Packaging and Storage of Chillies
In India, the dried chillies are stored in gunny bags for marketing. Dur-
ing this period, the deterioration in quality is more due to improper packag-
ing and storage.
Krishnamurthy and Natarajan (1973) studied the storage of whole chil-

lies in cans and found that samples with moisture of 11-12.9% retained a
higher colour, expressed as Beta-carotene content, than in samples with mois-
ture below 9%. However samples stored at 11-12% moisture turned black and
those stored below 7% turned pale.
Mahadevaiah et al. (1976) conducted studies on packaging and storage

of dried Guntur variety chillies in flexible consumer packages and revealed
that (i) a moisture content higher than 15% is critical with respect to mould
growth; (ii) the discoloration of the red pigment of chillies during storage is
greatly influenced by moisture and temperature; and (iii) under tropical con-
ditions, 200 gauge low and high density polythene films are suitable for pack-
aging of whole chillies in units of 250 g. The samples exposed to sunlight
was bleached and showed dull appearance in all the three different types of
packages (200 gauge high density polythene, 200 gauge low density poly-
thene and Kraft paper) that were studied. The samples stored at 92 % RH.
and 38°C had turned intensely dark and it may be due to non-enzymatic type
of browning reactions under high temperature and humidity condition.· At 65%
RH. and 27°C, even though the results indicate a slight decrease in colour
value, the chilli pods had retained quite bright colour.
The studies carried out by Pura Naik et al. (2001 ) to design a suitable
consumer package for 'Guntur' and 'Byadigi' varieties of chillies revealed that
moisture contents of 14 and 11.2% respectively were critical for facilitating
mould growth in them. But initial moisture contents of 10.45% at 64% RH
and 9.6% at 57% RH were found critical for storage of these varieties, re-
spectively. Under tropical conditions, 300 gauge High Density polythene
(HDPE) films were suitable for packaging "Guntur' and 'Byadigiri' whole
75
chillies in unit packs of 250 g. However, the Metallised Polyster Polyethylene
(MPP) stored samples retained higher colour than HDPE in both the condi-
tions regardless of varieties. The MPP and HDPE packagings were not suit-
able for storage of 'Guntur' and 'Byadigi' chillies in accelerated conditions
(90% RH, 38°C). The discolouration of the red pigments of chillies during
storage was greatly influeced by moisture and temperature. The capsaicin con-
tent showed a decreasing trend irrespective of storage conditions, packaging
and varieries.
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78

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Agricultural Engineering Today, Vol.

25 (5-6) : 58-78, 2001

STATUS OF POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY OF CHILLIES

S. Kaleemullah 1 , R. Kailappan 2 and Varadharaju 3

Chillies, which are called as red peppers of capsicums con-

the production. The red colour of chillies, which is mainly due

lies is very high (300-400% dry basis.) it is difficult to process

I. Research Scholar, 2. Professor, 3. Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural Processing,

Area and Production

India is the largest producer of chillies in the world. It is grown on

Warangal, Khammam, Dharwad, Nagpur (Hosamani, 1993). The main

The mam quality considerations m exports, particularly to Europe and

Maturity, Colour and Pungency of Chillies

nature of pungency has been established as a mixture of seven holologous-

Table 1. Year-wise export of chillies from India

Year Quantity Value

1989-90 11,983 26.85

(Vikas Singhal, 1999)

2. POST HARVEST TECHNOLOGY OF CHILLIES

hence processing and storage of chillies are of considerable importance both

Traditional method of sun drying

Traditionally, fresh chillies are preserved by drying the fruits immedi-

Improved method o.{ sun drying

Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore

developed an improved technology for sun drying of chillies whiCh has

Chandy et al. (1992) studiedd the effect of some physical treatments

Shivhare et al. (1995) dried chillies by sun-drying method on various

Mangaraj et al.(2001 ) dried punched and unpunched 'jwala' variety of

•:. Solar radiation is an inexhaustible souree of energy and it

superior. The Regional Research Laboratory, Jammu developed a solar dryer

Palaniappan (1997) reported on quality improvement in spices by solar

A solar cabinet dryer (Fig. 2) was developed at Central Institute of

Mangaraj et al. (2001) dried punched and unpunched 'jwala' variety of

Greenhouse type solar dryer

Mangaraj et al. (2001) used a greenhouse-type solar dryer developed

ued until pods contain 7-8% moisture or less (Pruthi, 1998).

Dhanegopal et aI. (1988) studied the drying characteristics of chillies

SECTION - - _ " "

WITH BLACK PAINT)

Fig. 1 : Concept of the roof integrated solar air collector

Top glass sealing

Fig. 2 Solar Cabinet Dryer

Water evaporated: 72.8 kg

Dried chillies (20010 moisture): 24.2 kg

Water evaporated: 4.2 kg

Dried chillies (3% moisture): 20 kg

Fig. 3 : Flow chart for artificial drying of chillies (Pruthi, 1998)

from 252.88 to 20% (d. b. ).

Fig. 4 : Waste fired dryer for fresh red chilli

Chandy et al. ( 1992) conducted studies to evaluate the effect of prick-

0.348% as compared to 0.291% for chillies dried at 50°C.

Yamuna (1998) studied the drying characteristics of chillies and reported

2.2. Seed Extraction

The seed extraction of chillies is a cumbersome process and painful due

Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore developed a chilli seed

Side view Front view

Fig. 5 TNAU chilli seed extractor

Dr. Punjabrao Deshmukh Krishi Vidya Peeth, Akola developed a chilli

Fig. 6 : PKV chilli seed extractor

Krishnamurthy and Natarajan (1973) studied the storage of whole chil-

Mahadevaiah et al. (1976) conducted studies on packaging and storage

Anonymous. 1978. Solar drying of chillies. Regional Research Laboratory News