TRADITIONAL DAIRY PRODUCTS

Lesson 9. KALAKAND – PRODUCT DESCRIPTION, METHOD OF PREPARATION, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, PACKAGING AND SHELF LIFE

Module 3. Khoa based sweets

Lesson 9
KALAKAND – PRODUCT DESCRIPTION, METHOD OF PREPARATION, CHEMICAL COMPOSITION, PACKAGING AND SHELF LIFE

9.1 Introduction

Kalakand is a milk sweet basically prepared from Danedar variety of khoa. Kalakand is characterized by large sized hard grains with less cohesive body.
The chemical composition of Kalakand is more or less similar to burfi, but there are large differences in the sensory and rheological properties of the two sweets. Contrary to burfi, kalakand has more distinct cooked flavour and brown colour. The body of kalakand is greasier with grainy texture. The grains are hard and of large size. Good quality kalakand is normally prepared in one step from buffalo milk. However, it can also be prepared from khoa. The firmly set product is cut to required shape and size. When making kalakand from khoa, danedar variety is used.

9.2 Method of Production

9.2.1 Preparation of kalakand from milk

Buffalo milk is preferred for kalakand manufacture. Slightly sour milk (upto 0.18% lactic acid) can be used for its preparation. Buffalo milk standardized to 6% fat and 9% SNF is taken in a pan and boiled. At the appearance of first boiling, 0.05% citric acid (on weight of milk) dissolved in small quantity of water is added to milk. There is no need to add citric acid in case of slightly acidic milk. The milk is boiled with continuous stirring and scraping. At pat formation stage, sugar @ 30% on expected yield of khoa or alternatively 7.5% on the basis of milk is added and stirring is continued. When desirable textural and body characteristics are achieved, mixture is removed from fire and poured in a tray, smeared with a thin layer of ghee for setting. The kalakand is cut into desirable shapes or alternatively served as such without any definite shape.

Fig. 9.1 Process flow diagram for the preparation of kalakand

9.2.2 Preparation of kalakand from khoa

Danedar khoa is taken in a pan and heated. To this sugar @ 30% is added and heating is continued with stirring. When desirable flow characteristics are observed, kalakand is poured into a tray and set for minimum 4 hr.

Fig. 9.2 Kalakand

9.3 Chemical Composition

The gross composition of kalakand is nearer to the composition of burfi. Chemical quality of market kalakand samples is given in the Table 9.1 and laboratory made kalakand in Table 9.2. Market samples carry higher amount of moisture and lower percentage of fat than lab made samples. The chemical composition of kalakand chiefly depends on quality of milk, method of production and amount of sugar added.

Table 9.1 Chemical quality of kalakand collected from various towns of India

Samples taken from all over India.
Arora et al., (1991)'

Table 9.2 Composition of laboratory made kalakand

9.4 Factors Affecting Sensory Quality

The sensory attributes of kalakand such as colour, body and texture and the overall acceptability of the finished product are dependent on fat % of milk, quantity of sugar, strength and type of coagulant, and moisture content.

9.4.1 Fat

Cohesiveness of kalakand is optimum in the samples made with 6 percent fat milk. If the fat content of milk is lower than 6 percent, it yields less acceptable product.

9.4.2 Sugar

Good quality kalakand can be obtained by using sugar at 7.5 percent level. Higher level yields inferior colour. A sugar content of 11 percent on the basis of milk results in cooked flavour, and excessive sweetness and browning in the final product.

9.4.3 Strength and type of coagulant

Citric acid at 0.02-0.05 percent levels is commonly used to induce good granule formation during kalakand preparation. Use of 0.02 percent citric acid results in kalakand possessing optimum chewiness, gumminess and hardness values.

9.5 Yield of Kalakand

275 gm of kalakand can be obtained from 1 kg buffalo milk. Cow milk gives comparatively lower yield being 225 gm for every kg of milk.

9.6 Packaging and Shelf Life of Kalakand

The shelf life of kalakand is 3-5 days at room temperature (30°C) and 15-20 days at refrigeration temperature (8-10°C). Due to its high water activity, kalakand is highly susceptible to microbial and enzymic spoilage. Attempts have been made to prolong the shelf life of kalakand up to 21 days by wrapping it in parchment paper and storing under refrigeration temperature (8-9°C). kalakand packaged under vacuum in metalized polyester and saran-coated cellophane/ LDPE pouches and stored in cartons remains acceptable for 50 days and 21 days at 6-10°C and 30°C, respectively. kalakand samples with 0.2 percent potassium sorbate and packaged in polyethylene bags pre-exposed to UV irradiation for 20 minutes and stored at 30 ± 1°C and 37 ± 1°C remained acceptable up to 24 and 15 days, respectively.

References

1. Suresh I and Jha,Y.K(1994) Century, Biochemical and microbiological qualities of Kalakand J.Fd.Sci.Technology., 31(4): 330-332
2. Patel,A.A., Patil,G.R., Grag,F.C. and Rajorhia, G.S. (1992) Effect of test conditions on instrumental texture parameter of Kalakand.Int.Dairy J.,2(2): 143-156.