Extrusion processing for pre-sweetened noodle grits for the preparation of ready-to-prepare kheer: Stability of added intense sweeteners

Abstract

Premixes of kheer have huge demand in domestic as well as international market. Most available premixes are calorie-rich which limit their consumption by diabetics and health conscious consumers. The present work focused on developing low-energy kheer using extruded noodle grits pre-sweetened with three non-caloric sweeteners viz. aspartame, acesulfame-k and sucralose. The stability of the sweeteners was evaluated as a function of extrusion process variables. The effect of die temperature at screw speeds of 80 and 200 rpm at fixed moisture content of 200 g/kg was studied. Extruded grits required significantly less cooking time in both milk (12 min) and water (9 min) as compared to control (40–42 min). Cooking losses were higher in milk than water which was desirable for the consistency and sensory quality of kheer. Cooking losses increased with screw speed but decreased with an increase in die temperature. Higher retention of sweeteners was achieved at screw speed of 80 rpm and die temperature below 150 °C. The stability of sweeteners was sucralose > acesulfame-k > aspartame. Sensory analysis revealed that residual sweeteners were sufficient to produce desired sweetness. Thus extrusion could be effectively used to produce ready-to-cook pre-sweetened rice noodle grits as an ingredient for kheer premix.