1st Nordic Drying Conference - NDC'01, Trondheim, Norway, June 27-29, 2001

PROCESS DEVELOPMENT FOR THE INDUSTRIAL MANUFACTURE OF INSTANT KHEER MIX Alok Jha and Ashok A. Patel Dairy Technology Division National Dairy Research Institute, Karnal ­ 132 001, India E-mail: aj@ndri.hry.nic.in Keywords: Kheer, shelf life, drying, quick-cooking rice, reconstitution ABSTRACT Kheer, is a highly popular dairy dessert consumed by a vast population in the Indian sub-continent. It consists of milk in which rice grains are cooked for one hour followed by the addition of sugar. Conventionally made kheer has a shelf life of only 1-2 days even in refrigeration. An instant kheer mix was developed which could be reconstituted into kheer by mere addition of boiling water. A pilot-scale two-stage spray dryer with an in- built fluidized bed dryer was used to manufacture kheer mix powder whereas a fluidized bed dryer was used for rendering the rice quick cooking. Instant kheer mix powder had 1.91% moisture content, 18.22% fat, 15.31% protein, 2.51% ash, 21.02% free fat (on fat basis) and 62.71% carbohydrates. Indirect dispersion of instant rice grains in boiling water gave a well accepted conventional type product. A ratio of 1:4 for powder to water was found to be satisfactory. Shelf life-related changes in the instant kheer mix powder packed in metallized polyester polyethylene laminate bags and sensory changes in reconstituted stored kheer were monitored at 30°, 37° and 45°C up to 6 months and shelf life prediction models were developed. Long shelf life of this conventional dessert in powder form would offer the dairy industry a value added product with a scope for product diversification and export promotion.

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