ABSTRACT
A study was made of the effect on pepper quality of the traditional method of processing the "Balancotta" variety of Piper nigrum (black pepper). The study comparatively considered the microbiological quality, drying method, drying rate, colour and appearance, washing or cleaning method, prior to fermentation or heaping as well as an alternative method - heat treatment processing of the commodity. Using a solar dryer as a drying apparatus resulted in 9.8% moisture content of the sample as opposed to 12.5% obtained for the traditional method of sun/open air-drying. The drying was more effective using a solar dryer and hence provided a better-dried product giving an assurance of better keeping/storage qualities. Air-drying and solar drying were carried out in the same area/locality with solar drying yielding a more hygienic product, giving 1.2 x 10zcfu/g of microorganisms compared to 8.0 x 104cfu/g enumerated in the sample dried by the traditional open air method. Chlorine disinfection prior to drying was, comparatively, a potent cleaning mechanism, yielding samples with microbial counts in the region of 0.1 x lOcfu/g immediately after its application. Sanitation of the processing/drying environment had a significant bearing on the I microbiological quality of the dried products after the chlorine washing hence the 1.2 xlOzcfu/g and 8.0 x 104cfu/g microbial counts obtained for the solar and air-dried samples respectively. Product Colour and appearance were studied by comparing traditionally heaped/fermented samples with samples, which were given some heat treatment by immersion in hot water prior to drying, and that, which was not given any treatment at all. The heat-treated sample tended to be more brightly coloured (black), followed by the untreated, but solar dried sample and then the traditionally fermented sample, which had a brownish (dull) black colour. The highest L values for colour intensity for both the heattreated and traditionally fermented samples were 54.8 and 51.7 respectively.