AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH COMMUNICATION CENTRE www.arccjournals.com *Corresponding author’s e-mail: atanujn@gmail.com 1 Department of Dairy Technology, Mansinhbhai Institute of Dairy and Food Technology, Mehsana-384 002, Gujarat, India. Asian J. Dairy & Food Res, 37(4) 2018: 267-272 Print ISSN:0971-4456 / Online ISSN:0976-0563 Yield and quality characteristics of paneer made from milk blend containing homogenized milk Janki Suthar 1 , A.H. Jana*, Hiral Modha and Smitha Balakrishnan Department of Dairy Processing and Operations, SMC College of Dairy Science, Anand Agricultural University, Anand-388 110, Gujarat, India. Received: 31-07-2018 Accepted: 12-10-2018 DOI: 10.18805/ajdfr.DR-1393 ABSTRACT The research was carried out to ascertain the feasibility of preparing paneer from milk blend containing low pressure homogenized milk to avail the benefits rendered by homogenization. Standardized milk was subjected to two-stage homogenization (4.90 and 0.98 MPa respectively) and then blended with unhomogenized standardized milk in three proportions (i.e. 3:7, 4:6 and 1:1, w/w). It was necessary to add calcium chloride to the milk blend to improve the firmness of resultant paneer. The experimental paneer samples obtained from ‘milk blend’ containing homogenized milk, as well as control sample (only from unhomogenized milk) were studied for their proximate composition, physico-chemical characteristics, textural properties and sensory quality. Paneer obtained from milk blend (homogenized:unhomogenized; 4:6 w/w) resulted in greater fat recovery and moisture content culminating in significantly higher yield compared to control paneer (CP). The hardness of paneer obtained from blended milks was lower, but the springiness of BMP3:7 sample was greater than that of CP. The total sensory score of experimental paneer BMP4:6 was similar to the score associated with CP, but greater than the scores associated with paneer samples BMP3:7 and BMP1:1. Blending of homogenized (low pressure) milk with unhomogenized milk in 4:6 proportion helped in obtaining paneer with superior fat recovery and yield compared to use of unhomogenized milk, without any adverse effect on sensory properties and with concomitant cost savings. Key words: Composition, Low pressure homogenization, Milk solids recovery, Paneer, Sensory quality, Textural properties. INTRODUCTION Paneer is a South Asian variety of non- fermentative, non-renneted, non-melting and unripened type of soft cheese obtained by acid and heat coagulation of milk. Paneer is highly nutritious and wholesome food as it contains high amount of milk fat, protein, minerals along with moderate amount of vitamins and other minor nutrients. Paneer is considered to be a rich source of animal protein for the vegetarian people, having a high biological value ranging between 80.38 and 86.56 (Shrivastava and Goyal 2007). Now-a-days paneer has spread throughout the world rather than being limited to south Asian regions (Aneja et al. 2002). Paneer is prepared by coagulation of heated milk with organic acids (viz. citric acid, lactic acid, tartaric acid, sour whey), drainage of whey and subsequent pressing of the coagulum to attain desired block shape and moisture content (about 50.0 to 55.0 %). The recovery of fat, protein and Total solids (TS) in paneer is reported to vary from 81.5- 92.9, 84.1-92.0 and 52.3-61.1 % respectively (Bhattacharya et al. 1971, Vishweshwaraiah and Ananthakrishnan 1985, Chandan 2007, Sahu and Das 2010, Khan et al. 2012). Paneer retains about 50.0 % of minerals and 10.0% of lactose originally present in milk (Rao et al. 1992). In the preparation of cheese (especially soft varieties), homogenization of milk has resulted in improvement in the appearance (whiter and glossy) of product, enhanced the fat recovery and moisture content leading to increased yield of product (Jana and Upadhyay 1992). The fat recovery in Queso Blanco cheese (unaged white cheese) made from unhomogenized and homogenized (pressure of 6.86 MPa) milks (3.68 % milk fat) has been reported to be 69.81 and 86.90 % respectively. The protein and TS recoveries for control cheese was reported to be 87.62 % and 50.99 % respectively; such values for homogenized milk cheeses were 89.84 % and 57.88 % respectively (Parnell-Clunies et al. 1985). Vishweshwaraiah and Ananthakrishnan (1985) reported that homogenization of cow milk improved the yield and sensory quality of paneer; however detailed study was not carried out. In fact, homogenization of milk would be of significance in the manufacture of ‘low-fat’ paneer, which suffers from hard and chewy body owing to reduced moisture content and increased casein-casein interaction. However, Chawla et al. (1985) did not notice any improvement in the quality of ‘low- fat’ paneer prepared from milk subjected to homogenization treatment.