Additional function of soaking bitter gourd in salt solution

Besides reducing the bitterness in bitter gourd soaking bitter gourd in salt solution can also help for longer storage of bitter gourd.This is achieved by prevention of browning reaction and maintaining the structure of the bitter gourd.

Methods

We did a further experiment in which we placed the bitter gourd for storage.

i) Sliced bitter gourd that is not soaked in salt solution (A)

ii) Sliced bitter gourd that is soaked in salt solution (B)

Results

After one day we observed that the

i) Bitter gourd (A) turns into yellowish brown in color and shrink

ii) Bitter gourd (B) however remains its structure and color.

This is because soaking in the salt water helps to inactivate enzymes that cause browning reaction thus preventing browning in bitter gourd.The salt also helps to preserve the bitter gourd so that it will last longer for storage purpose.

(Lori Alden,2005)