Developing a New Synergistic Method to Increase the Production of Dates Molasses

Abstract

The dates are stacked in a basin with four sloping walls, and the sugary juice flows out of the dates under the influence of pressure, heat, and humidity; this is the common method of molasses in Iraq, and it was developed as part of this study. Teardrop molasses is a specific variety that is packaged in teardrop-shaped containers. Although this technique (the tampers) is effective in removing sugar and nutrients from dates without spoiling them, and in obtaining sugary juice with a light natural color, it comes with a low production rate because the syrup does not exceed 10-15% of the weight of the dates, and because it takes a long period of time to produce (from 2 to 3 months). As a result, the study aimed to increase production and the best physical, chemical, and sensory quality attributes in the product by employing a new synergistic strategy to raise the extraction efficiency and improve the quality of molasses during the manufacturing process. The study found that the created method was superior (synergy) because it increased the efficiency of making date molasses to 38% of the utilized dates and cut the production time in half, from two months to three days. The sensory evaluation found that this approach also fared exceptionally well across the board of sight, sound, and touch. As one of the local soft date varieties, Sukkari performed better than the other varieties of Zahdi (of semi-dry dates) and Khastawi (of the soft date varieties) utilized in the study, demonstrating the effect of the date variety on the amount of production.