Preparation and drying of carrots
Carrots showing no sign of infection and infestation were thoroughly washed in running water to remove any adhering dirt. Carrots were peeled off and cut into small pieces of 2 2 cm2 using a stainless steel knife and then these were pressure cooked for 10 min. After pressure cooking, carrot pieces were manually mashed using a ladle and cooled to room temperature. The mashed sample was spread uni- formly in a single layer on a plastic sheet over an aluminium tray. Mashed carrots were dried at 50 1C for 18 h. The dried sample was ground to whole powder that was passed through 40 mesh sieve. The sample passing through it was powder and the sample which did not pass through it was designated as grits.