Sugarcane juice Kheer: A sweet meal for lactose intolerant people

With the prevalence of lactose-intolerance, people are looking for non-dairy options. An attempt was made to prepare shelf stable sugarcane kheer without milk. Sugarcane kheer was prepared by cooking the juice with boiled rice in different ratios i.e. 2:1, 4:1 and 6:1. Based on preliminary sensory trials, sugarcane juice to rice ratio 4:1 obtained highest overall acceptability and was selected for product development and shelf life studies. Storage studies at refrigerated (4–7^oC) temperature revealed that TSS, pH and acidity remained unaffected whereas total sugars, reducing sugars and bioactive constituents (Ascorbic acid, total phenolics and antioxidant activity) decreased significantly (p<0.050) during progression of storage. Prepared kheer was shelf stable for two months under refrigerated conditions with high overall acceptability.