STUDY ON MAHUA (Madhuca indica) FAT AND TESTING ITSSUITABILITY FOR BAKING

Abstract

Mahua fat is an underutilized fat with very less usage in food processing activities and suitability of the fat for bakery applications has not been explored till date. This study evaluated the physicochemical characteristics of mahua fat and assessed its suitability as a bakery shortening through product development, sensory evaluation, and fatty acid profiling. Mahua oil was expelled using a screw-type oil expeller, and tested for various quality parameters. Muffins and buns were prepared using the mahua fat and were subjected to sensory evaluation, and the best acceptable product was subjected to fat and fatty acid analysis. Mahua fat had acceptable Iodine value, saponification value, specific gravity, refractive index, melting point and smoke point, indicating the suitability as a bakery fat. The overall acceptability of mahua muffin was 8.33 ± 0.52, compared to 7.29 ± 0.95 in mahua bun on a 9 point hedonic scale, indicating that mahua fat shows potential for application as a shortening fat for development of bakery products like muffins with very good sensory acceptability. Mahua oil is rich source of palmitic acid, stearic acid among saturated fats and oleic acid and linoleic acid among the unsaturated fats. Essential fatty acid Cis-11-Eicosenoic Acid (C20:1n9), was also detected in traces in both mahua fat and mahua muffin.