Physicochemical and Antioxidant Characterization of Blended Spice-Flavoured Jaggery Cubes During Storage

The present investigation was focused on determining the effect of the addition of blended spice oleoresins to jaggery cubes and to determine the physicochemical and antioxidant properties of blended spice-flavoured jaggery cubes during storage. The storage studies were conducted by packaging the jaggery cubes in laminated and craft paper pouches for a period of up to 270 days. The experimental data revealed that the moisture content of blended spice-flavoured jaggery cubes increased from 4.56 to 7.13% when packaged in laminated pouches and from 5.62 to 8.93% for control jaggery cubes packaged in paper pouches. Similarly, the changes in hygroscopicity, hardness, sucrose, reducing sugars and acidity were found to be significantly lower for blended spice-flavoured jaggery cubes packaged in laminated pouches than for control jaggery cubes stored in paper pouches. Blended spice-flavoured jaggery cubes packaged in laminated pouches exhibited the lowest reduction in total phenolics from 791.55 to 745.27 mg GAE/100 g and flavonoids from 243.13 to 229.84 mg QE/100 g after 270 days of storage. The sensory evaluation of the jaggery cubes revealed that a minimum reduction in overall acceptability score from 8.80 to 8.47 was observed for blended spice-flavoured jaggery cubes packaged in laminated pouches while a maximum reduction from 5.60 to 5.01 was observed for control jaggery cubes packaged in paper pouches. The storage studies concluded that the blended spice-flavoured jaggery cubes packaged in laminated pouches exhibited good storage stability for up to 240 days under ambient conditions.