Studies on preparation of bottle gourd Pedha-A review

Present investigation was carried out to assess the chemical composition, sensory evaluation and microbial quality of bottle gourd Pedha. Pedha was prepared from buffalo milk with constant level of sugar (30 per cent by weight by Khoa) and different levels i.e. 0% (T₁), (T₂) 5%, T₃ 10% and T₄ 15% of bottle gourd pulp by weight of Khoa. The product prepared using 5% bottle gourd pulp was found most acceptable on the basis of overall acceptability. The average standard plate count of fresh sample was found to be 8, 11, 14 and 18 x 10³ cfu per gm for treatments T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄, respectively. Yeast and mould and coliform count were not observed in fresh pedha samples. It was observed that the overall acceptability score of treatment T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄ was 8.53, 8.40, 7.62 and 6.81 respectively. The cost for preparation of bottle gourd Pedha for treatment T₁, T₂, T₃ and T₄ was Rs. 159.6, Rs. 155.12, Rs. 150.64 and Rs. 146.16 per kg, respectively. It can be concluded that the bottle gourd pulp can be very well utilized for preparation of nutritious, palatable and low cost Pedha by blending 5 per cent bottle gourd pulp with 95 per cent buffalo milk Khoa on weight basis.