Sensorial and chemical changes in buffalo milk Kheer Mohan during storage

Kheer Mohan is an energy dense popular sweet of eastern Rajasthan. Similar to other traditional Indian dairy products, this product also has the problem of short shelflife. It has maximum shelf life of six days at room temperature. Present investigation was undertaken to check the suitability of different packaging methods viz. normal, vacuum and nitrogen packaging using nylon films for shelf life enhancement as well as to monitor changes in sensory attributes, pH, free fatty acid (FFA) content and microbial counts during its storage at 30 +/- 10 degrees C. For storage period and packaging conditions, significant (p<0.01) difference in overall acceptability scores was observed. Packaging conditions and storage period had highly significant (p<0.01) decreasing effect on pH value during storage. Storage period showed highly significant (p<0.01) increasing effect on FFA values, whereas packaging condition had non-significant effect on the same. Both packaging and storage period had highly significant (p<0.01) increasing effect on SPC of Kheer Mohan. Vacuum packaging of Kheer Mohan samples was not feasible as it not only altered the shape of product but also made sugar syrup to squeeze out from the samples. Packaging of Kheer Mohan samples in nitrogen environment resulted in minimum 1.5 times increase in product shelf life (9 days) as compared to the product packed in normal air environment (6 days) at 30 +/- 10 degrees C storage temperature.