Concise and informative title: evaluation of selected spices in extending shelf life of paneer

Black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon and clove were tested for their relative efficacy in improving shelf life of paneer. All the spices were incorporated in paneer @ 0 (control), 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 % by wt. of expected yield of paneer. Addition of black pepper, cardamom or clove at the rate of 0.6 % by weight or cinnamon at the rate of 0.4 % by weight was found to be acceptable. Therefore, paneer was prepared by incorporating black pepper, cardamom and clove i.e. Bp, Ca and Cl @ 0.6% and cinnamon (Ci) @ 0.4% by wt. of expected yield of paneer. All the paneer samples viz. Bp, Ca, Cl and Ci were subjected to sensory evaluation when fresh and after interval of 7 days during storage at 7 +/- 1 degrees C up to 28 days. Results indicated that control remained acceptable up to 7 days, Bp up to 14 days of storage and Cl up to 21st day of storage. The overall acceptability score of Ca remained well above the acceptable level even on 28th day of the storage. Results of changes in chemical characteristics indicate that amongst all the spices studied, cardamom had maximum ability to control the rate of increase in acidity, free fatty acids content and soluble nitrogen content in paneer during storage. The order of the relative effectiveness in enhancing shelf life of paneer was cardamom > cinnamon > clove > black pepper. The effect of cardamom on microbial counts of paneer viz. standard plate counts (SPC), yeast and mould count and coliform count were evaluated. Among the spices studied, cardamom was found to be the best spice to improve shelf life of paneer up to 28 days of storage at 7 +/- 1 degrees C.