Client Profile:
The client is a women-led social enterprise, founded by Prakriti Gautam. They work directly with mainly smallholder horticulture farmers and specialise in cold storage, grading and advanced dehydration techniques to add value to rural products. They run an agro-processing facility in Dhankuta in East Nepal, and aim to reduce post-harvest losses. They process 150 tons of perishables annually, with 100+ jobs generated every year in rural areas. Their latest challenge is to manufacture good quality avocado powder for the food and cosmetic industries.
Tasks:
Assist the client to improve the manufacturing operation and specifically the freeze-dried avocado product’s colour, structure and taste:
- Advice on production methods to avoid bitterness of finished product
- Education and knowledge about freeze-drying of avocado
Results:
There is increased knowledge about general freeze-drying and handling of equipment, as well as about the preparation and drying of avocado specifically. The client achieved improved quality of dried avocado colour and structure, as well as some improvement to taste and bitter after-taste.
A proposal was made on how to possibly further reduce the bitter after-taste with more production trials.
