Optimization of Dehydrated Onion‐Based Snack Mix Formulation Using Response Surface Methodology

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Onion ( Allium cepa L.) is one of the most important and widely cultivated vegetable spices throughout the world. Though onion is widely consumed, it is not convenient to peel, cut, and cook due to its pungency. Processing of onion into different value‐added products would reduce the postharvest losses and offer convenience to use. Dehydration of onion reduces the bulk to transport and also increases the shelf life of onions significantly due to less moisture, which arrests the growth of microorganisms. Dehydrated onion can be used in many processed or ready‐to‐cook and ready‐to‐eat foods in place of raw onion as it has several advantages such as convenience in transportation, storage, preparation, and use. Onion pakoda is a popular snack in India. It is a deep‐fried snack prepared from thinly sliced onions mixed with gram flour, spices, and herbs; however, peeling and cutting of onions is the major time‐consuming process in the preparation of onion pakoda . Keeping this in view, a ready‐to‐cook pakoda snack mix was optimized using dehydrated onion. The optimized factors were determined as 47.26 g dehydrated onion/100 g flour, 141.44 mL water/100 g mix, and 23.01 min time for rehydration of batter. This product will reduce the overall snack preparation time and offer convenience, while also increasing the market for dehydrated onion.