Studies on separation techniques of pomegranate arils and their effect on quality of anardana

The dehydrated arils of wild pomegranate fruits (anardana) are used as acidulent in culinary preparations and in making various medicines. For easy separation of arils, fruits were subjected to sand roasting, hot water dipping and soaking in cold water. Hot water dip for 2 min saved time required for separation of arils from fruits (80% excluding treatment time and 74% including treatment time). Due to the high temperature during sand roasting, quality of arils and anardana was inferior when compared to other treatments. The desirable color and chemical composition of the product anardana was retained in the treatment hot water dipping for 2 min.