Effect of ingredients and processing parameters on the sensory, instrumental colour, texture and microstructure of Pinni

Abstract

Pinni is an immensely popular traditional milk-cereal based sweet of northern states of India. Ingredients for production of pinni are ghee, wheat flour, sugar, pulses and khoa. In the production of pinni, slight variations in the processing parameters such as level of wheat flour, ghee, powdered sugar and roasting time can affect the quality significantly. Hence, these processing parameters were standardized using response surface methodology (RSM) and their effect on texture, microstructure, physico-chemical and sensory attributes of pinni was studied. The solution having maximum desirability of 0.773, corresponding to 44.99 parts of wheat flour, 35.62 parts of ghee, 24.99 parts sugar and 9.06 min roasting time was selected as optimized condition for pinni preparation. Scanning electron microscopy study effectively described the changes occurred in protein and starch particles of pinni during different stages of production.