An attempt was made to optimise blanching time, preservative and its pre-treatment concentration levels for solar dehydrated cauliflower and the data were analysed using the procedure of one-way classified ANOVA using PROC GLM of SAS. It was found that, blanching time was highly significant in relation to rehydration ratio, rehydration coefficient, percent water in rehydrated cauliflower, ascorbic acid and browning, whereas it was found to be non-significant to sensory attributes of the rehydrated cauliflower. Preservatives and preservative concentration levels were found to be significantly different (P < 0.0001) for all preservatives and preservative concentration levels except in sensory evaluation. Preservative concentration levels of 0.5 and 1.0% were found to be the best in all sensory attributes and physico-chemical parameters except browning parameter. Potassium meta bisulphate (KMS) was found to be the best preservative. Blanching time and other preservative treatments did not show any effect on drying time of cauliflower. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.