Advance Journal of Food Science and Technology 1(1): 1-5, 2009 ISSN: 2042-4876 © Maxwell Scientific Organization, 2009 Submitted Date: August 25, 2009 Accepted Date: September 09, 2009 Published Date: November 10, 2009 Corresponding Author: R.C. Ranveer, Department of Food Science and Technology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur – 416004, M.S., India 1 Physico-Chemical and Sensorial Characteristics of Chocolate Prepared from Soymilk A.A. Gatade, R.C. Ranveer and A.K. Sahoo Department of Food Science and Technology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur – 416004, M.S., India Abstract: The demand of milk product is increasing. Among all the milk products chocolate is mostly preferred confectionary product. In the present research the beany flavour of soymilk was reduced to a greater extent by autoclaving and washing. Various combinations of ingredients were tried for preparation of soymilk chocolate. Among the entire formulations sample ‘O’ had excellent appearance, color, glossiness and smooth texture. It also contained moisture (10.40%), protein (4.06%), fat (27.96%), ash (1.20%) and carbohydrate (56.38%). This sample scored maximum sensory scores with respect to color, flavour, taste, mouthfeel and texture among all samples. Key words: Soymilk, chocolate, lactose free, cholesterol free and sensory parameters INTRODUCTION Soybean (Glycine max) is an important protein source for million of people for over five thousand years (Mathur, 2004). The flavour associated with soybean is regarded as one of the important factor limiting their use in food products (Deshpande et al., 2008). The various flavour compounds isolated from soybean are carbonyl compounds, phenolic acids, volatile fatty acids, amines, alcohol, phosphatidylcholine, linoleic and linolenic acids. Their auto-oxidations and lipoxygenase catalysis give rise to off flavour (Mattick and Hand, 1969). The off flavor can be reduced by using various processing techniques (Salunkhe and Kadam, 1989). The milky white fluid obtained from soybean by soaking, grinding and filtering is called as “Soymilk” (Lo et al., 1968). Soymilk contains some major and minor components like protein, fat, carbohydrate, calcium, iron, sodium, carotene, vitamin-E and riboflavin (Deshpande et al., 2008). The soymilk is used in various products like paneer, yogurt, cheese, tea and coffee whiteners, shrikhand, rasogolla and various indigenous milk sweets, confectionary etc. (Wang et al., 2001). Milk is one of the most important ingredient in chocolate production. Other basic ingredients required for chocolate manufacturing process are milk powder, cocoa powder, sugar, butter, emulsifiers and stabilizers (Patil and Jha, 2008; Nazaruddin et al., 2006; Beckett, 2002). Liquid glucose, refined wheat flour (RFW) and corn flour were used in soymilk chocolate to improve the texture and to increase the binding capacity of chocolate. The texture, flavour and level of mouthfeel were unique characteristics, which play an important role in the development of chocolate (Nazaruddin et al., 2006). In the present work attempts have been made to reduce the beany flavour of soymilk and its utilization for preparation of chocolate. The optimization of ingredients and additives were tried extensively to produce a best quality chocolate from the soymilk. MATERIALS AND METHODS This study was conducted in the period from January 2009 to April 2009 at the department of Food Science and Technology, Shivaji University, Kolhapur. Soybean of JS-335 cultivar was used for the preparation of soymilk. The controlled sample of soymilk was prepared as per the procedure suggested by Deshpande et al. (2008), where some modifications were made to reduce the off flavour. The flow diagram for the preparation of soymilk is given in Fig. 1. The soymilk chocolates were prepared by varying different ingredients. The quantities of different ingredients are tabulated in Table 1 and 2. The flow diagram for the preparation of soymilk chocolate is as shown in Fig. 2. Soybean, Soymilk and Soymilk chocolate (sample-O) were analyzed for physico-chemical properties like protein, fat, carbohydrate, total solid and ash content. The standard procedures were used for determinations (Ranganna, 2000). The sensory evaluation of soymilk and soymilk chocolates were carried out using 10 points hedonic scale (Fang et al., 1971). The soymilk was judged for flavour before and after pre-treatment and the results obtained are presented in Table 4. One branded milk chocolate obtained from the local market was taken as reference sample. The data generated in the present study was statistically analyzed (Panse and Sukhatme, 1989).