Development of a process for shelf stable dairy dessert dalia and its physico-chemical properties

Abstract

Dalia, is a traditional dairy food of Indian sub-continent. It is consumed as dessert by cooking cracked wheat (dalia grains) in milk along with addition of sugar. It is used as a breakfast food especially for growing children and also for old age people. It has a poor shelf life of 1–2 days. In order to enhance its shelf life, dalia was processed in tin-free steel cans at 121.1 °C in a rotary over pressure retort. Process lethality (Fo) was found to vary from 3.90 to 8.22 min for different formulations. The average composition of retort sterilized dalia dessert comprised of 29.60 g/100 g total solids (TS), 3.56 g/100 g protein, 0.84 g/100 g ash and 21.54 g/100 g total carbohydrates including 2.88 g/100 g amylose. The product had a short lag period for the heating curve, jh (0.40–0.85), small heating rate index, fh (3.2–5.5 min) and a short lag factor for the cooling curve, jc (0.91–1.10) implying essentially convective heating regime. The process time (B) was 10.20–15.78 min for Fo value of 3.90–8.22 min, whereas the cook value (Cg) was 28.95–54.03 min. Fo value of 4.15 min and nisin 376 IU/g yielded a product that was both safe and wholesome for 72 days at 37 °C.