Application of response surface methodology for optimizing pumpkin seed and balancing sugar and palm jaggery in Burfi formulation

Burfi is an indigenous milk product made from khoa that is excellent in nutrition. Burfi contains various additives that boost its sensory appeal and customer acceptability. This study was conducted to optimize the level of pumpkin seed, sugar and replacement of sugar with jaggery using RSM for manufacture of pumpkin seed incorporated burfi using Response Surface Methodology (RSM) consisting of 20 experiments. The colour and appearance scores of pumpkin seed incorporated burfi ranged from 6.90-9.0 on 9-point hedonic scale. A significant (p<0.05) negative effect on colour and appearance score was observed for increase in the level of pumpkin seeds at linear terms. The flavour score of pumpkin seed incorporated burfi ranged from 6.50-8.67 on 9-point hedonic scale. A significant (p<0.05) negative effect on flavour score of pumpkin seed incorporated burfi was observed for increased pumpkin seeds and sugar level at linear level. The body and texture scores of pumpkin seed incorporated burfi ranged from 7.0-8.42 on 9-point hedonic scale. A significant (p<0.05) negative effect on body and texture score of pumpkin seed incorporated burfi was observed for increase in the level of pumpkin seeds and sugar at linear level. The overall acceptability scores of pumpkin seed incorporated burfi ranged from 6.40-8.67 on 9-point hedonic scale. A significant (p<0.05) negative effect on overall acceptability score of pumpkin seed incorporated burfi was observed for increase in the level of pumpkin seeds and sugar at linear level. The optimized formulation consisted of 3.09% pumpkin seed (w/w of milk), 6.89% sugar (w/w of milk) and 72.5% replacement of sugar with palm jaggery.