[Manufacture of a freeze dried stew for mountaineers]

The mountaineers use to eat at the evening dinner which ought to fulfil the following requirements: it should be nutritive and have an adequate 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. A stew of common use in Chile based on meat and vegetables was elaborated, known as <>, a typical chilean stew. It was dehydrated by freeze-drying, a process based in the freezing and subsequent ice sublimation of the product, achieving a very high retention of both sensory and nutritional qualities. The final product corresponded to individual portions of 60g of Charquican which was vacuum-packed in a coextrude polyamide-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 indicate a 6,7% of humidity with an aw value of 0,26. The chemical composition is nutritionally adequate, with a 45.6% of carbohydrates, 5,0% of lipids and 29,5% of proteins. It presents a sensory quality with typical characteristics which ranged from good to very good. The microbiological quality meets the Standards of the Chilean Sanitary Regulation for Foods. The total plate count and the molds and yeasts count were below the proposed limits. The study of the Charquican s shelf life performed at environmental storage conditions (20-25 degrees C and 50-55 RH) showed that the microbiological quality is mantained without significant differences. The sensory quality presents a slight and gradual decrease until the average score fo 6,7 after 200 days storage. The evaluation with excursionists at the mountains, showed the excellent acceptability and the good reliability of the product.