Judging of Dairy Products

Module 9. Heat desiccated Indian milk products

Lesson 26
KHOA: DESIRABLE AND UNDESIRABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF KHOA. SENSORY EVALUATION OF KHOA

26.1 Introduction

Khoa or mava, the traditional Indian indigenous dairy product, is mostly used as abase for a variety of Indian sweets. Khoa is a partially desiccated whole milk prepared in open pans by direct application of heat.

According to PFA Khoa should be made from cow, buffalo, sheep or goat or combination of these milks by rapid drying and should not contains less than 20% fat in the finished product. However, the Indian Standard specifications in addition specify the quality of milk to be used for its manufacture as well as the sensory quality of the product. It also requires that Khoa must have not less than 37% fat (on dry basis).

In general, three types of Khoa are made in this country viz., Pindi, Dhap and Danedar depending on end use and basic composition

Table 26.1 Types of Khoa

In order that the sensory panelists are made aware of the desirable/undesirable characteristics of khoa, they need to be exposed to various types of khoa. The panelists should first be trained to identify good quality product made from cow and buffalo milk.

26.2 Sensory Requirement of Khoa

26.2.1 Flavour

A typical mildly cooked flavors similar to that perceived from boiled milk is most acceptable. The taste should be pleasantly sweet.

26.2.2 Body & texture

Soft & uniform body and granular texture is most desirable. Pindi khoa should have smooth, compact, homogenous texture with very fine grains. Dhap khoa shall have a granular texture with a slightly soft body. Danedar khoa shall have big grains with brown colour.

26.2.3 Colour & appearance

Good quality khoa should be a compact mass of very small uniformly size dgranules which should not show any signs of fat or water leakage and should not develop grittiness after 24 h storage. Cow milk khoa is pale yellow with a tinge of brown having a moist surface.

Table 26.2 Desirable sensory qualities of cow and buffalo milk khoa

26.3 Undesirable Sensory Attributes in Khoa

Thereafter,the panelists should be trained in recognizing the defects commonly associated with khoa and its degree by providing them with good quality products containing various levels of individual defects. Some of these common defects observed in khoa can be simulated as stated below:

26.3.1 Flavour defects

Table 26.3 Flavour defects

26.3.2 Body and Texture Defects

Table 26.4 Body and texture defects

26.3.3 Colour and appearance defects

Table 26.5 Colour and appearance defects

The defects caused by packaging have not been discussed since in general khoa whether in large or small scale is delivered in consumers own container or at most in polyethylene bags.

In order to unify the scoring system for khoa, a 100-point scale scorecard is being suggested. Since flavour is the most important attribute it is usually assigned the maximum score of 45, followed by 35 for body and texture, 15 for colour & appearance and 5 for package. It is also necessary to assign a minimum score for each sensory attribute below which the product is automatically rejected. For this purpose 60 % of the individual attribute score has been generally proposed and accepted. Hence, any product sample scoring less than 27 for flavour, 21 for body and texture, 9 for colour & appearance or 3 for package should be rejected.

After having trained the panelists for recognizing the various defects and their degrees, the use of scorecard. They will then be ready to evaluate samples of khoa. Khoa should be evaluated by deducting points for each defect/ intensity of defect from the total score of that attribute and final score on the card. The composite scores can then be analyzed statistically to arrive at the best product/ process etc. under test.