Effect of Fruit Acidulants on Instrumental Colour Values and Sensory Qualities of Paneer

Abstract

Colour is one of the important parameters for the acceptability of many food products. Therefore, a study was carried out to investigate the effect of milk coagulation with fruit juice acidulants (lemon and amla) on the instrumental colour values and sensory qualities of paneer (Indian soft cheese type). The paneer was prepared per standard methods, and paneer curry was prepared using commercial masala as labelled instructions. Raw materials and paneer were analysed for instrumental colour and expressed as *L, *a and *b values. First, sensory evaluation was conducted by blinding the type of acidulant used for raw and curried paneer and then disclosing the kind of acidulant used for raw paneer. We found that the fruit juice acidulants affected both instrumental colour values and sensory qualities of paneer. The sensory scores were highest for paneer coagulated with citric acid, followed by lemon and amla extracts. However, disclosing the type of acidulant used increased sensory scores for amla paneer while the scores for lemon paneer slightly decreased. Moreover, currying increased sensory scores of the amla paneer. Therefore, lemon and amla juice have potential in manufacturing paneer with high acceptability despite the colour imparted from the fruits.