Development of paddle operated Petha (ash gourd) pricking machine
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Date
2011
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Publisher
CCSHAU
Abstract
A study of optimization of a number of process variables namely needle diameter (1, 3 and 5 mm)
sugar solutions of 50-70oB temperature range of 60-80oC and FTSR of 1:3 to 1:12 for the Petha (ash
gourd) sweet manufacture was attempted. Response surface methodology was adopted for optimization
of process variables. The effect of process variables were studied on solute gain, water loss, colour (L*
value) and sensory scores. The needle with 3 mm diameter proved to be the best thickness needle. The
optimum conditions generated by RSM were: temperature as 69.65oC, concentration as 50.0oB and
FTSR as 1:4.10. The kinetics study was done on the optimum conditions and it revealed that moisture
content decreased from 92.5 to 23.8% following a polynomial trend. TSS increased from 4.2 to 74%
following a polynomial trend, total sugars increased from 3.6 to 73.9% following a polynomial trend,
reducing sugars increased from 3.4 to 3.6% following a linear trend, non-reducing sugar increased from
0.2 to 70.3% following a polynomial trend, colour value decreased from 30.08 to 12.81 following a
linear trend and sensory scores increased from 1.03 to 7.86 following a linear trend. A paddle operated
Petha (ash gourd) pricking machine was designed, developed and tested. The designing criteria kept in
mind were, the optimum diameter of pricking needles, ergonomic height of workstation for average
height of both Indian men and women and the force considerations. The machine was successful in
pricking 35 kilograms of ash gourd per hour with no damage to the fruit slices. The machine pricked
Petha (ash gourd) sweet was excellent in sensory scores (7.86) and quality parameters (74% TSS,
73.9% total sugars, 70.3% non-reducing sugar, 3.6% reducing sugars and L*=12.81 as colour value).
The economic analysis revealed 4 years of payback period and 0.477 as breakeven point.
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Keywords
Fermentation, Biological phenomena, Acidity, Surface water, Soybeans, Proteins, Yoghurt, Carbohydrates, Bakery products, Flours