Pointed gourd (Trichosanthes dioica) is an important vegetable available seasonally. Pointed gourd slices were dried after pre-treatment using a tray dryer. To accomplish this process, raw, osmosed and blanched slices of pointed gourd were subjected to the drying air temperature of 50, 60 and 70oC in a tray dryer. The drying time of osmosed sample was reduced to 480 minutes as compared to 600 and 840 minutes taken by blanched and raw pointed gourd samples. Drying of osmosed pointed gourd samples at 60oC drying air temperature provided shortest drying time to produce best quality dried product at final moisture content % wb compared to blanched and raw pointed gourd samples. | Drying characteristics of pointed gourd slices
