Dehydration
is one of the important means of preserving potatoes for obtaining dehydrated
products such as chips, dices, potato flour, granules, flakes, waris
and papads.
Solar energy is available in abundance in the plains of India
after the harvest of potatoes which can be utilized to dehydrate potato slices,
dices, waris, papads etc.
Among them, dehydrated chips are commonly prepared in the villages.
Preparation of dehydrated chips is simple and involves manual cutting of
2-3 mm thick slices directly in cold water followed by blanching in hot
water for 1 to 5 min, and then spread in the sun to dry. The dried product can
be stored in air‑tight containers or sealed polythene bags for 6 months.
These slices are consumed after shallow frying as and when required. Besides
domestic consumption, dried potato chips are made in rural areas in several
parts of the country for sale. Certain rural areas of central and western Uttar
Pradesh and Malwa region of Madhya
Pradesh have many small-scale units for making dehydrated chips. These small
entrepreneurs generally make dehydrated chips just after the potato harvest in
February-March and continue preparing till June, from the potatoes stored in
traditional stores. The market price of the chips depends on the visual
appearance of dehydrated chips. Lighter the colour, more the price.
In Gujarat and Maharashtra, considerable quantities of partially cooked
potatoes are sliced, dried in the sun and consumed after frying. The procedure
is similar to the one used for drying raw potato slices, except that potato
tubers are parboiled (cooked in boiling water for about 8 min), before peeling
and slicing. Dehydration of such slices takes longer time but they take up much
less cooking medium during frying than raw slices. Besides, in certain parts of
India, potatoes are cut into pieces (as wedges, cubes or dices) and dried in sun
for later use in making curries. The processing of potatoes in rural areas can
be increased substantially provided the procedure is partially mechanized. Hand
operated peeler, gas heated blancher and low cost solar dryers of big capacity
are required to be developed. These dryers, besides enhancing the efficiency of
drying will also improve the quality of chips.
Several Indian varieties, viz. Kufri Chipsona-1, Kufri Chipsona-2, Kufri
Chandramukhi, Kufri Lauvkar and Kufri Sindhuri produce good quality dehydrated
chips. The recovery of dehydrated chips from these varieties ranges between
14.9‑17.4%.