Revista de Processamento e Tecnologia de Alimentos

Abstrato

Effect of Sugarcane Juice Pre-Treatment on the Quality and Crystallization of Sugarcane Syrup (Treacle)

Waled M. Abdel-Aleem

Treacle (black honey) is liquid syrup produced by heating and evaporation of sugarcane juice. It is rich in sugars including, sucrose, glucose, and fructose, which may crystallize during storage, especially at low temperatures. The crystallization of treacle was the main problem facing treacle producers in the Egyptian traditional food industry and affected negatively in the quality and consumer acceptability. Consequently, the aimed to investigate the effect of sugarcane juice pre-treatments, including the addition of citric acid at concentrations of (1, 2, and 3) g/l alone or in a combination with preheating at (60 or 70)°C for 1 h on physiochemical properties and crystallization of sugarcane syrup during storage for 60 days at room temperature. The results showed that these pre-treatments significantly affected the quality and properties of sugar cane syrup. The combination of the citric acid addition at a concentration of 1 g/l and preheat treatment at 70°C for 1 h resulted in syrup with the greatest overall acceptability. Also, these pretreatments prevented the crystallization of the produced syrup during the storage for 60 days at room temperature (20 ± 5)°C. Therefore, pre-treatment of the sugar cane syrup with a combination of the citric acid addition and heating can be suggested as a promising method for producing a high-quality sugar can syrup and preventing syrup crystallization during storage and handling.