MANUFACTURE OF A FREEZE-DRIED STEW FOR MO UNTAINEERS

The mountaineers use to eat at the evening a dinner which ought to ful fil the following requirements: it should be nutritive and have an ade quate composition, a small volume and should be light, keeping a good quality during a long period of time. Its preparation must be fast and easy, being well accepted by the group of mountaineers. stew of commo n use in Chile based on meat and vegetables was elaborated, known as ' 'Charquican'', a typical chilean stew. It was dehydrated by freeze-dry ing, a process based in the freezing and subsequent ice sublimation of the product, achieving a very high retention of both sensory and nutr itional qualities. The final product corresponded to individual portio ns of 60g of Charquican which was vacuum-packed in a coextrude polyami de-polyethylene pack, which protects from the moisture and oxygen. It was used an outer packaging of plastic-coated aluminum foil, in order to protect him from the light. Controls of the optimized product indic ate a 6,7% of humidity with an aw value of 0,26. The chemical composit ion is nutritionally adequate, with a 45.68 of carbohydrates, 5,0% of lipids and 29,5% of proteins. It presents a sensory quality with typic al characteristics which ranged from good to very good. The microbiolo gical quality meets the Standards of the Chilean Sanitary Regulation f or Foods. The total plate count and the molds and yeasts count were be low the proposed limits. The study of the Charquican's shelf life perf ormed at environmental storage conditions (20-25 degrees C and 50-55 R H) showed that the microbiological quality is mantained without signif icant differences. The sensory quality presents a slight and gradual d ecrease until the average score fo 6,7 after 200 days storage. The eva luation with excursionists at the mountains, showed the excellent acce ptability and the good reliability of the product.