Process optimization for the manufacture of Kheer Mohan employing Response Surface Methodology

Abstract

Kheer Mohan is a famous, Chhana (soft cottage cheese) based Indian sweetmeat. Traditional method of its manufacturing, adopted by unorganized sector is cumbersome, highly time-consuming, energy and labour intensive. Present investigation was undertaken to optimize its production process employing Response surface methodology for its standardized large scale production in organized sector. Effect of four independent variables viz., sugar syrup concentration (°Brix), semolina (% by weight of Chhana), cooking time (min) and weight of Chhana balls (g) on sensorial attributes, color (L*, a*, b*) and hardness (N) values of Kheer Mohan was studied. Process optimization resulted in about 61% reduction in cooking time, 60% reduction in weight of product ball and 5% reduction in sucrose content of optimized product compared to most preferred market sample. It had 66.18% total solid content, 6.22% fat, 49.32% sucrose, 1.28% lactose, 8.34% protein and 1.02% ash.