Int.J.Curr.Microbiol.App.Sci (2019) 8(2): 3224-3235 3224 Original Research Article https://doi.org/10.20546/ijcmas.2019.802.377 Standardization of Recipes for Preparation of Pumpkin (Cucurbita moschata) Flour and its Quality Evaluation during Storage Sachin Mittal 1* , Anju K Dhiman 1 , Anshu Sharma 1,2 , Surekha Attri 1 and Deepika Kathuria 1 1 Department of Food Science and Technology, Dr YS Parmar University of Horticulture and Forestry, Nauni, Solan – 173230, Himachal Pradesh, India 2 Amity International Centre for Post Harvest and Technology, Amity University, Noida- 201303, Uttar Pradesh, India *Corresponding author ABSTRACT Introduction Pumpkin is one of the important vegetables of genus Cucurbita and family Cucurbitaceae. The genus Cucurbita is comprised of five domesticated species viz. Cucurbita moschata, Cucurbita pepo, Cucurbita maxima, Cucurbita ficifolia and Telfairia occidentalis (Caili et al., 2006). C. moschata, C. maxima and C. pepo are the commonly grown and economically important species (Sharma and Rao, 2013). The common varieties of pumpkin are CM-14, Pusha Vishwas, Arka Chandan, Arka Suryamukhi, CM-350, NDPK-24 (Kalloo et al., 2006). There is a large variation in size, shape and color of pumpkin fruits. The average weight of fruit fluctuates between 8 and 10 kg and sometimes even up to 20 kg have been noticed (Seshadri, 1986). Pumpkin contains 88 per cent moisture, 4.08 per cent protein, 0.46 per cent fat, 15.27 mg/100 g - carotene, 14.49 mg/100 g ascorbic acid, 1.018 Pumpkin belongs to cucurbitaceae family grown widely in tropical and sub-tropical countries. Pumpkins are the sources of various functional compounds such as carotenoids, vitamins, minerals, dietary fibres, etc. Therefore, an attempt was made by drying of pumpkin for production of flour and its quality evaluation during storage. Different pre-treatments were applied to pumpkin shreds to standardize the method for preparation of pumpkin flour on the basis of chemical quality. The flour prepared from the best recipe (steam blanching for 5 minutes + dipping in 750 ppm KMS solution for 10 minutes followed by dehydration in mechanical cabinet drier (60±2 for 16-18 hours) was packed in low density polyethylene (LDPE) pouches and aluminium laminated pouches (ALP) and evaluated for quality attributes at intervals of 0, 3 and 6 months at ambient temperature. The pumpkin flour can be stored for 6 months at ambient temperature in LDPE as well as ALP with minimal changes in quality attributes. However, ALP was found to be comparatively better packaging material than LDPE pouches. Keywords Dehydration, Pre- Treatments, Pumpkin Flour, Quality, Storage Accepted: 22 January 2019 Available Online: 10 February 2019 Article Info International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 8 Number 02 (2019) Journal homepage: http://www.ijcmas.com