Effects of hot water treatment and dipping time on quality of fresh-cut bitter gourd

Nowadays, ready-to-cook vegetables or fresh-cut vegetables are gaining popularity in urban society because people often lack the time to prepare their ingredients. Bitter gourd is a large-fruited vegetable, making it unsuitable for small families or individuals living alone in a condominium. Trimming or chopping for easy use can solve this problem. However, after trimming, bitter gourd loses its quality, such as yellowing. Therefore, using hot water dipping is another technology that helps slow down the color change and maintain the quality. This research investigated the effect of hot water temperature and soaking time on the quality of bitter gourd by varying the hot water temperature for soaking bitter melon at 50 °C and 55°C, and varying the soaking time to 1 and 2 minutes. After that, the temperature was cooled with cold water at 0 °C with 200 ppm sodium hypochlorite added for 3 min before cutting into 5x6 cm pieces and packing into foam trays, 8 pieces per tray and covered with PVC film. Soaking bitter gourd in hot water at 55 °C for 2 minutes is the best treatment to preserve the color and firmness of the flesh, and also reduces the amount of carbon dioxide gas in the packaging, allowing it to be stored for 8-10 days. Therefore, this process can be applied in the ready-to-eat food industry.