The Manual on Home-based Fruit and Vegetable Processing - Free Online Information

This is probably the best technical information I have seen aimed at the training of small scale vegetable and fruit processors. The first book covers the principles of post-harvest handling, storage and processing of fruits and vegetables while the second provides recipes and guidance to put these principles into practice.

 click image for free acces to these books

The books We're developed for trainers working with household processors in Afghanistan, but the information is so comprehensive that it will be useful for a range of users including the new small scale food processing enterprise.

The first book of 85 pages covers the following in detail, using a clear and simple style supported by many photographs and drawings.

INTRODUCTION 

WHY DO WE NEED TO PROCESS FRUIT AND VEGETABLES? 

POST-HARVEST HANDLING AND STORAGE

PROCESSING: INTRODUCTION TO GENERAL PRINCIPLES 

• Principles of food preservation 
• Overview of fruit and vegetable processing techniques
• Summary of small-scale fruit and vegetable processing techniques
  
• Processing pre-treatments for fruit and vegetables 
• Description of processing methods for fruit and vegetables  

POST PROCESSING PACKAGING AND STORAGE

HYGIENE AND SAFETY

The second book of around 90 pages covers the detail of producing a whole range of products as listed below from the table of contents:

DRYING

• Processing outline for dried fruit and vegetable
  
• Dried tomato

   

• Dried tomato 
  
• Dried apricots
  
• Dried onions
  
• Dried apples
  

JAM-MAKING 

• Processing outline for Jam and Jelly 
  
• Fruit jam or jelly – process details and quality 
  
• Apricot jam
  
• Carrot and lemon jam
  
• Cherry jam
  
• Mulberry jam
  
• Apple jam
  
• Apple jelly
  

SAUCES AND CHUTNEYS

• Processing outline for sauce and chutney
  
• Sauce and chutney – process details and quality assurance
  
• Italian style tomato sauce
  
• Italian style tomato sauce
  
• Tomato paste
  
• Tomato sauce or ketchup
  
• Tomato puree or simple concentrate
  
• Tomato concentrate (non-cook method) 
  
• Coriander chutney (chatni gashnizeh)
  
• Vegetable chutney
  
• Tomato chutney (Chatni Badenjani Romi)
  
• Chili chutney (Chatni Morchi Sorkh/Sabz )
  

PICKLES

• Processing outline for lactic acid fermented pickles (atchar)
  
• Fermented pickles – process details and quality assurance
  
• Pickled cucumbers
  
• Mixed pickles
• Pumpkin pickle 

VINEGAR

• Process outline for fruit and vinegar
  
• Fruit vinegar – quality assurance and processing notes
  
• Tomato vinegar
  
• Mulberry vinegar

If you have any interest in processing vegetables and fruit, these books are really highly recommended.