Freezing of peas

Green peas are commonly available in their frozen form due to their short growing season. Blanching is a thermal process designed to inactivate the enzymes responsible for generating the off-flavours and off-odours. Fresh green peas were blanched for various temperatures (70, 80, 90 and 100 °C) and time (1, 2 and 3 min) in 4% maltose solution and stored in a plastic zip-lock bag (50 micron) at -18°C for 6 months of storage. At 45 days intervals, peas were analyzed for physical, biochemical and sensory parameters. Treatment 80 ˚C temperature and 2 min blanched in 4% maltose solution were observed to be best treatment amongst all treatments considering firmness, ascorbic acid, chlorophyll and sensory characteristics of green peas at the end of storage period. The minimum changes of firmness (465.75 to 416.60 g), ascorbic acid (31.49 to 29.92 mg/100g), chlorophyll (1.20 to 1.11 mg/g) and sensory score (7.60 to 6.45) was observed at 80 °C temperature and 2 min blanched in 4% maltose solution.