Tropical and subtropical vegetables (2+1)

Storage

• Green chillies and capsicum should be sold immediately after harvesting. Stored and transported at temperature ranging between 70C and 100C and RH 90-95%. If properly cooled and stored, the shelf life can be extended by 14-21 days. In case of dry chillies, pods should be properly dried after removing the plant parts and foreign matter.
• Later, they can be packed in clean, dry gunny bags and stored in cool dry places ensuring protection from dampness. Dry chillies could be stored better in craft pack at 270C and 65% RH where as for powder, polythene bag is effective than clear grass containers.
• It is of great importance that colour and pungency in case of chillies and colour in the case of paprika are maximally preserved during storage. In trade there is preference for mechanically dried capsicums with around 10% moisture as those that are over dried suffer from loss of colour darkening and those with higher level are susceptible to infection and bleaching of colours during storage that have considerable influence on the stability of the colour, the temperature of storage and moisture content of samples. The light induced auto catalyzed degradation of carotenoids is also a factor in sun drying and storage.