Participants of group discussion
Dr. Yogesh Kulkarni, Dr. Arun Dixit, Dr. Subir Bhaduri, Shubham Shembade [me]
The idea is to develop a drying system that utilizes winter weather conditions. Which will also work in the period when a major portion of cultivate is harvested.
During the Winter, days are short but bright and clear. there is very strong sunlight available. On the other hand the temperature does not rise very much. During the night the temperature falls and most of the water in the air gets condensed. This decreased humidity during the night. These are very favorable conditions for drying any food product.
There is a demand for drying Pudina [Mint]. The conditions were to retain as much vital contents as possible. The fragrance if mint leaves is very sensitive to heat as the fragrant oils are volatile. For this Ambient Temperature drying was the option available which I am working on.
After the group discussions Dr. Kulkarni suggest to Start working on this concept as part of the ambient temperature drying project. He advised us to use a vacant geodesic dome a dryer.
And with no delay the work started,
