Amchur: Process and usage

Amchur is a dehydrated product made from raw green mangoes. Traditionally Amchur is an Indian spice made from raw green mangoes that are cut, sun-dried, and pounded into powder. The basic objective of drying green mangoes was the removal of water to reach a level at which microbial spoilage can be avoided.

Usually, the dropped immature mangoes are dried in direct sunlight for preparation of amchur. Sun drying takes 16–18 hours for complete drying.

Amchur is also sold as dried mango slices, which practically fits the category.

Amchur is rich in iron content, vitamin A and vitamin E. Amchur is also rich in citric acid. It combats acidity and improves digestion to the flavor to curries, chutneys, soups.

Generally, Amchur is used as an acidulent in place of tamarind especially in North Indian states. It is widely used to give a sour and tangy taste to dishes. Traditionally, amchur is used for the preparation of pickle, chutney and sauces etc.
Amchur: Process and usage

The use of mango powder

Mango powder mainly used as a beverage base or flavoring, is prepared by drying mango puree using one of the following methods:  spray drying, vacuum drying, or drum drying.

In Rajasthan India, the people there use mango powder, a suitable substitute for tomatoes.

When cooked, mango powder, which is known as amchur in Hindi, gives a mild, sweet and tangy flavor. Amchur is tart, light brown in color and used mainly for pickling and sometimes in stir-fries and curries.

In Indian it’s very common to sprinkle a combination of salt, mango powder, black pepper and lemon over regular fruits, such as chopped apples, pears and/or bananas.

Dehydrated mango powders can be reconstituted into juice and used as a base for preparation of products like beverages and baby foods.
The use of mango powder

Mango Powder

Mango Powder
A dehydrated mango powder has been developed for use in baby foods or reconstituted for beverages in India. The dried mango powder is also used for fruit cakes. It is a common method to peel and slice mangoes and then dry them in the sun. This indigenous practice is prevalent in India.

Mango baby foods are prepared from sulfated mango pulp using several techniques such as drum drying, puff drying, foam-mat drying, and spray drying. Mango slices are blanched in boiling water and then dehydrated in dryers where the temperature and humidity are controlled, the product obtained by the drum-drying process not only maintains all the qualities of a good product, but also retains high percentages of ascorbic acid.

Ascorbic acid is retained better in the freeze dried powder than in the drum dried powder. SO2 in the pulp increases the stability of the ascorbic acid. The drum dried powder has some non-enzymatic browning during storage. The powder produced by the foam-mat drying of mango pulp is inferior in color, flavor, and acceptability to that produced by spray drying.

A reduction in viscosity of mango pulp by pectin enzymatic treatment and then spray drying will result in a good mango powder that is relatively inexpensive. The products have good rehydration capacity and show reasonable retention of flavor and nutrient constituent.
Mango Powder