Processing
Processing
of potatoes in India is desirable to avoid gluts, to solve the problem of
storage of large quantities of potatoes during periods of extremely high
temperature in the Gangetic plains, and to serve as a means to increase the
supply in off-seasons. Among processed products,chips,
french
fries and flakes
are the most popular forms. However, there is a good future for dehydrated
products viz.dehydrated
chips,
potato
sticks, potato dice and for newly developed edibles like potato
custard powder, soup
thickner, biscuits etc.
made of potato
starch and flour.
Village level dehydrated
products are also prepared in many situations.
The quality of processed products depends on
the morphological characters such as tuber shape, size, depth of eyes as well as
on the chemical characters like dry matter and reducing sugar content of tubers.
Potatoes with high dry matter content (>20%) are preferred for potato chips,
French fries and dehydrated products, while those with low dry matter content
are best suited for canning. Therefore varieties
for processing have to be specially bred.
Kufri Chipsona1 and Kufri Chipsona2, two low sugar and high dry matter
potato varieties released during 1998 by Central Potato Research Institute are
suitable for chipping and can be grown in the entire Gangetic plains and central
Indian plains to produce chips of excellent quality.
However some areas
are very good for production of potatoes for processing, due to the prevailing
temperatures during the growing season in these areas.
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