Influence of incorporation of honey on the sensory and physical qualities of traditional Petha sweet

This research study evaluates the impact of incorporating honey into traditional Petha sweet on its sensory and physio-chemical quality attributes. Honey, a natural sweetener, is renowned for its high nutritional content and myriad medicinal qualities, as compared to refined sugar. Considering, the nutritional and therapeutic properties of honey, a experimental petha sweet was developed by partial replacement of refined sugar by incorporating honey. Petha sweet was prepared with 5 different combinations of refined sugar and honey i.e. 50:10 (T1), 40:20 (T2), 30:30 (T3), 20:40 (T4), 10:50 (T5). The control sample was prepared by using only ash gourd and refined sugar with ratio 40:60(T0). The petha sweet prepared with a 30:30 (T3) ratio of sugar and honey achieved the highest scores in sensory evaluations. Based on the overall acceptability scores, T3 was favoured by the panel members. The nutritional analysis of all treatments indicated that moisture content ranged from 24.15% to 47.12%, protein content ranged from 1.19% to 1.85%, total soluble solid ranged from 44.25% to 46.51 0Brix, and sugar content ranged from 38.44 to 42.40%. All parameters were in increasing order synchronised with higher levels of honey incorporated treatments. Which is desirable from the point of view of amount of nutrient. Conversely, fat content ranged from 0.44% to 0.15%, total solids 75.85% to 52.88%, carbohydrate content ranged from 74.02% to 50.60%, pH levels ranged from 7.28 to 6.80, and energy ranged from 304.80 to 211.15 kcal. All these parameters were in decreasing order with the increased honey content. Which is desirable from the point of view of nutrition. Therefore, it can be concluded that honey can be effectively utilized in traditional petha sweet at a 30:30 ratio with sugar.