Design and development of a new peanut curing process for West Texas

Peanut quality is a major concern in ail phases of the peanut industry from production to manufacturing. Postharvest processing of peanuts can have pr ofound effects on the quality and safety of peanut food products. Curing is a key step in postharvest processing. Curing peanuts improperly can signif icantly reduce quality, and result in significant losses to both farmers an d processors. The conventional drying system designed in the 1960's is stil l being used in the processing of the peanuts today (Figure 1). The objecti ves of this paper is to design and develop a new peanut curing process for West Texas.