111 Mushroom Research 20 (2) : 111-115, 2011 Development, recovery and evaluation of fresh mushroom chips and mushroom fortified noodles DB Desayi, LH Kukanoor, CP Patil, Mahantesh Shirur and BB Shivakumar Department of Post Harvest Technology, Kittur Rani Chennamma College of Horticulture Arabhvi-591310, Karnataka ABSTRACT Among the different treatments fresh mushroom chips prepared by soaking in one per cent salt+ one per cent KMS+0.5 per cent citric acid for five minutes along with partial dehydration for two minutes recorded higher per cent recovery, lower oil uptake, higher scores for organoleptic characters like colour and appearance, flavour, crispness, taste and overall acceptability. Among the different treatments 15 per cent mushroom powder fortified with noodle flour recorded the highest scores for organoleptic parameters like colour and appearance, flavour, crispness, taste and overall acceptability. Fortification of 20 percent mushroom powder to the noodle flour was found better for mushroom fortified noodles. Key words: Mushroom, value added products, mushroom chips, mushroom fortified noodles In India, the fresh mushroom market is largely a contribution of marginal and small farmers, who have limited resources and, therefore are dependent on the local market for sale of their produce. The growers face consequences of over saturated market and distress sale at highly un-remunerative prices. The retention of fresh mushroom at the level of grower, whole seller, retailer and consumer further results in deterioration in its quality and economic loss. Presently, long-term preservation of mushrooms by canning and pickling are popular (Chandrasekar et al ., 2002). But, in the peak periods of harvesting, gluts in the market can be checked by adopting appropriate post harvest technology to process surplus mushrooms into novel value added products rather going only for canning or pickling. These value added products will not only reduce the losses but will also enhance the income of farmers. The value addition of oyster mushrooms into chips could provide solution as short term storage of mushrooms upto three months (Armuganathan et al., 2005). This study was undertaken to see the effect of different pretreatments on development and evaluation of fresh mushroom chips from the oyster mushrooms. Fresh oyster mushroom (Pleurotus florida) was procured from the Department of Agricultural Microbiology, washed thoroughly with clean tap water. The chips were made by partial dehydration of mushrooms with the help of potato chips dehydrator. Before partial dehydration, mushrooms were pre-treated with salt, citric acid, KMS and their combinations for preparation of mushroom chips. In treatment one (T 1 ), mushrooms were soaked in 1% salt solution for 5 minutes, followed by partial dehydration for 2 minutes. In treatment two (T 2 ) mushrooms were soaked in 1% salt and 0.5 % citric acid solution for 5 minutes, followed by partial dehydration for 2 minutes. In treatment three (T 3 ), soaking was done in 1% KMS solution for 5 minutes, Short communication