Claims:We claim,
1. A method of production of liquid jaggery, the said method comprising:
- harvesting the sugarcane at maturity close to the ground level;
- crushing the harvested sugarcane horizontal three roller crusher;
- allowing the juice for natural settling;
- filtering the juice through nylon cloth to the boiling pan;
- increasing the pH of fresh juice to 6.5 - 7.0;
- clarifying the sugarcane juice using okra plant stalk extract;
- boiling the clarified sugarcane juice;
- stirring the frothing juice at 990 C -1000C;
- removing the concentrated juice when the temperature reaches 103.50C and the total soluble solid content is at 72-73 0brix.
- centrifuging the liquid jaggery at 7000 rpm for five minutes;
- adding the citric acid at concentration of 400 mg/kg (0.04%) to liquid jaggery;
- mixing the potassium meta-bisulphite at concentration of 500 mg/kg (0.05%);
- adding potassium meta-bi-sulphate (KMS) at 0.05 mg/liter of liquid jaggery;
- filtering the supernatant slowly;
- boiling at 600C temperature;
- filling and storing the hot liquid jaggery in sterilized glass bottles.
2. The method of production of liquid jaggery as claimed in Claim 1, wherein total soluble sugar (TSS) content of mature sugarcane is more than 21 0brix.
3. The method of production of liquid jaggery as claimed in Claim 1, wherein Okra plant stalk extract is prepared by:
- crushing 2 kg of okra plant stalk;
- soaking in 15 litres of water;
- filtering through the nylon cloth.
4. The method of production of liquid jaggery as claimed in Claim 1, wherein the nitrogenous impurities and phenolic compounds in juice coagulate and float on surface as black scum during boiling stage and are removed at at 850C using strainer.
5. The method of production of liquid jaggery as claimed in Claim 1, wherein arsenic free phosphoric acid is applied at concentration of 150-200 ml/1000 liter of cane juice in order to avoid effect of excess nitrogen and to neutralize alkaline effect on liquid jaggery colour.
, Description:FIELD OF INVENTION
The present invention relates generally to the field of food and nutrition;
More particularly, it concerns method related to production of non centrifugal liquid cane sugar or liquid jaggery.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Non Centrifugal Cane Sugar or jaggery is a traditional minimally processed sweetener from sugar cane with much health and environmental advantages vis-à-vis refined cane sugar. Jaggery probably was the dominant form of cane sugar consumption before the large-scale production of refined sugar for export markets after 1700 (Galloway 2000). Today it is a marginal food on the world market, but still important in some of the producing countries like India.
The displacement of jaggery by refined sugar has economic, technological and cultural reasons. Refined and cheaply mass-produced products (mainly flours, oils and fats and sweeteners), adapted to the requirements of urban, small family life have profoundly changed the diets in all developed countries, with significant negative health consequences. The recognition of these effects by significant proportions of the consumers in these countries are behind the increasing importance of natural, organic or low processed foods in many markets. This offers a crucial opportunity for increasing the consumption and production of non centrifugal cane sugar, if the reasons that led to its displacement are overcome.
However, at present jaggery is being produced by using higher doses of chemicals which are hazardous to human health. The process of jaggery making from sugarcane juice, by inorganic method, has been standardized. Clarification of sugarcane juice is very important and usually is the first processing step in jaggery production which decides the quality of the end product.
Liquid jaggery, an important intermediate product of jaggery processing, is obtained while concentration of sugarcane juice after clarification. Being natural sweetener, having more nutritional and medicinal value, the liquid jaggery is very much demanded by the people in rural as well as urban areas.
In the existing state of the art, juice clarificants viz., vegetable extracts, lime and phosphoric acid are applied for quality jaggery production. However, in the organic concept of jaggery production chemicals (inorganic material) are not allowed to be used during processing. Hence there is need to identify suitable organic clarificants in place of inorganic clarificants and to standardize their rate of application. Out of two inorganic clarificants used, the lime (CaCO3) is applied at lower dose and within acceptable limit in organic jaggery processing. However, the second inorganic clarificants i.e. phosphoric acid needs to be replaced with appropriate organic acid.
Also in the existing state of the art, liquid jaggery stage is decided by the skill jaggery person (locally called as Gulawya) based on the experience by checking formation of tar (elongation of drop) of hot liquid jaggery. However, slight delay in checking the stage might affect the viscosity of liquid jaggery. Thus uniform quality of liquid jaggery is not assured by the traditional method.
None of these related art references describe a method of production of liquid jaggery using organic clarificants and identify the stage of extraction.
Therefore, a specific method needs to be developed in order to organic liquid jaggery using organic clarificants and also standardize their rate of application and determine accurate production stage of liquid jaggery.
The present invention addresses the problems highlighted in the existing state of the art using organic clarificants i.e. Okra plant stalk extract and optimizing the striking temperature at which liquid jaggery is formed.

OBJECTS OF INVENTION
The primary object of the present invention is to provide a method of production of liquid jaggery;
Further object of the present invention is to provide a method of production of liquid jaggery using organic clarificants;
Further object of the present invention is to provide a method of production of liquid jaggery which accurately determines production stage of liquid jaggery;
Further object of the present invention is to provide a method of production of liquid jaggery with high shelf life;
Further object of the present invention is to provide method of production of liquid jaggery which brings down overall cost of production;
Other object of the present invention is to overcome the problems or issues associated with existing methods of liquid jaggery production as identified in the background above-mentioned.
SUMMARY OF INVENTION
Embodiments of the present disclosure present technological improvements as solution to one or more of the above-mentioned technical problems recognized by the inventor in conventional practices.
The present invention provides method of production of liquid jaggery.
The present disclosure provides a determination of production stage of liquid jaggery and ascertains it with optimum content of total soluble solids.
According to one aspect of the present invention, the disclosed method comprises extraction, clarification and concentration of cane juice.
According to further aspect of the present invention, the disclosed method uses horizontal three roller crusher for extraction of cane juice.
According to further aspect of the invention, the disclosed method uses okra plant stalk extract for clarification of the sugarcane juice.
According to further aspect of the present invention, the concentrated juice is removed when the temperature of boiling juice reaches 103.50C and the total soluble solid content is at 72-73 0brix.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
The following detailed description illustrates embodiments of the present disclosure and ways in which the disclosed embodiments can be implemented. Although some modes of carrying out the present disclosure have been disclosed, those skilled in the art would recognize that other embodiments for carrying out or practicing the present disclosure are also possible.
The present invention provides method of production of liquid jaggery.
In overview, embodiments of the present invention are concerned with method of production of liquid jaggery comprising the steps of extraction, clarification and concentration of cane juice.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, the production of excellent quality liquid jaggery, the process sets off in the pre harvest season itself. During the pre-harvest of sugarcane, the soil needs to be well drained and medium to deep. Saline, alkaline and calcareous are not recommended for sugar cane production which is intended to be used in liquid jaggery production. For better quality of liquid jaggery, about 20 % reduction in dose of nitrogen fertilizer is recommended while phosphorus and potash fertilizers should be applied as per recommendations of sugarcane crop. Excess irrigation and moisture stress affect the quality of cane juice and liquid jaggery. Irrigation to sugarcane crop should be applied considering the season and type of soil. One of the most critical recommendation is that sugarcane crop should not be irrigated minimum 15 days before harvesting. Sugarcane crop should be harvested at maturity for jaggery when juice TSS (0brix) is more than 21. The cane crop should be harvested close to the ground level and top of 2-3 immature internodes should not be used for jaggery preparation.
According to an embodiment of the disclosed invention, the harvested sugarcane should be crushed as early as possible preferable within 12 hours of harvest. For crushing, horizontal three roller crusher having juice extraction efficiency about 65 % are selected.
According to further embodiment of the present invention, the extracted juice is cleaned using two stage filtration system. The juice from collection tank is pumped into overhead tank for natural settling. After settling, juice is taken by gravity into boiling pan. While transferring the juice from storage tank to the boiling pan it is passed through nylon cloth for filtration.
According to further embodiment of the present invention, extracted sugarcane juice is taken in boiling pan for jaggery production. Usually, dried cane bagasse is used as fuel for boiling of juice.
According to an embodiment of the present invention, for efficient removal of impurities from the juice, its acidic nature is changed to alkaline by application of lime solution (150-200g of CaCO3 in 5 litre of water) for processing of 1000 litre sugarcane juice. This facilitates removal of non sugar material. The pH of fresh juice ranges between 5.0 to 5.3 which is increased to 6.5 - 7.0 by adding the lime solution. The increased pH facilitates the coagulation of suspended impurities of gummy colloidal substances. It also helps to avoid inversion of sugar.
According to further embodiment of the invention, sugarcane juice is clarified using the vegetative clarificant viz., okra plant (wild species) stalk extract is used. This extract is prepared by crushing 2 kg of okra plant stalk and soaking in 15 litres of water. The filtered extract is added in juice for clarification. At 850C temperature, the nitrogenous impurities and phenolic compounds in juice coagulate and float on surface as black scum (dhormali) which is removed by strainer. Scum removal operation is very important in the liquid jaggery processing and efficiency of this operation decides the quality of liquid jaggery.
Clarification is a process of elimination of non sugar impurities in the extracted raw sugar cane juice during its boiling. If the non sugar impurities are not removed during clarification, they will be carried over to the next subsequent processing and eventually embedded in the jaggery resulting in the inferior quality of liquid jaggery and jaggery. Clarification process can effectively be achieved by using vegetative or organic clarificants. Around 10 different vegetative clarificants viz; Okra (Hibiscus esculentus), Ambadi (Hibiscus canabinus), Phalasa (Grewia asiatica), Kateshewari (Bombax malabaricum), Groundnut seed meal (Arachis hypogea), Soybean seed meal (Glycine maxmeril), Guar seed flour (Cymopsis tetragonoloba), Haliv seed (Lepidium sativum), Tamarind seed meal (Tamarinus indica) and French bean seed meal (Phaseolus vulgaris) were tested for clarification of sugarcane juice.
During cane juice boiling process these impurities float on the surface. Due to mucilaginous extract of okra plant, protein coagulates and the mucilage forms complexes with pigments, proteins, free amino acids, complex carbohydrates and other insoluble colloidal impurities in the juice. These complexes become insoluble, lighter and appear at the surface of boiling juice as flocculants that are then separated manually as black scum.
The results indicated that okra plant mucilage helped to remove highest amount of scum (2.70%) showing thereby superiority over rest of clarificants tried. Jaggery prepared by using okra plant mucilage as juice clarificant recorded significantly highest non reducing sugar (83.56%) and lowest reducing sugars (4.44%). Jaggery colour found improved due to application of okra plant mucilage while ash content and insoluble matter found reduced.
According to further embodiment of the present invention, in order to avoid effect of excess nitrogen and to neutralize alkaline effect on liquid jaggery colour, the arsenic free phosphoric acid is applied at 150-200 ml/1000 liter of cane juice. Removal of second golden scum is carried out during boiling as and when it appears on surface of juice in pan.
According to further embodiment of the present invention, after complete clarification of juice at 990C to 1000C the juice begins to froth. To control excess frothing and to avoid loss of juice due to overflowing, continuous stirring is applied by specially fabricated churner.
According to an embodiment of the disclosed invention, the data on effect of striking temperature on liquid jaggery showed positive correlation with good quality of liquid jaggery. As the striking temperature increased the total soluble solids and sugar content also increased. With increase in striking temperature there was an improvement in keeping quality of liquid jaggery. However there was an increase in crystallization percentage in liquid jaggery during storage at bottom. On the other hand, if temperature of syrup at this stage reduced below the striking temperature then (because of under cooked condition) microbial development observed in liquid jaggery during storage which destroys the shelf life and quality of liquid jaggery. That’s why it is very crucial to ascertain the proper liquid jaggery stage. Liquid jaggery production stage is ascertained by observing the striking temperature of concentrated juice at 103.50C by electronic thermometer and similarly testing the Total Soluble Solids (TSS) of same concentrated juice at 72-73 0brix by hand refractometer. Once the striking temperature and total soluble solids (TSS) values of liquid jaggery are found as recommended then proper stage of liquid jaggery is said to be ascertained and the heating process is stopped.
According to further embodiment of the present invention, the boiling pan is then removed from furnace and the liquid jaggery is filled in stainless steel containers for cooling. The liquid jaggery is allowed to settle naturally for 9 days and to separate out sediments deposited at bottom and light weight impurities floating on surface of liquid jaggery in stainless steel container. Settling facilitate to get clear (turbulent free) liquid jaggery. According to an embodiment of the present invention, liquid jaggery can be settled and sediment can be removed mechanically by centrifugation method at 7000 rpm for 5 minutes period.
According to further embodiment of the present invention, in order to avoid crystallization in liquid jaggery the citric acid at 400 mg/kg (0.04%) is applied. For preservation of liquid jaggery, the potassium meta-bisulphite at 500 mg/kg (0.05%) is mixed in liquid jaggery. After settling, liquid jaggery is filtered slowly without disturbing the sediment deposited at bottom of container. It is then allowed for gentle boiling at 600C temperature. The hot liquid jaggery is then filled in sterilized glass bottles and immediately capped.
WORKING EXAMPLE OF INVENTION:
Following example describes the working example of the present disclosure. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the illustrated example but can be realized in various other ways.
The liquid jaggery is prepared using the process described in this disclosure. Sugarcane was harvested at maturity close to the ground level. It was crushed in horizontal three roller crusher which has near about 65% juice extraction efficiency. The extracted juice was allowed to be settled naturally and then it was filtered through nylon cloth into the boiling pan. The pH of this filtered juice was increased to 6.5 - 7.0 and then this alkaline juice was subjected to clarification using okra plant stalk extract which was prepared by crushing 2 kg of okra plant stalk and soaking in 15 litres of water and then filtering through the nylon cloth.
The clarified sugarcane juice was boiled in the pan and it was stirred continuously using the fabricated churner when froth forms at 990 C -1000C. The heating was stopped when the temperature reaches 103.50C and the total soluble solid content is at 72-73 0brix. The concentrated juice was then removed and centrifuged at 7000 rpm for five minutes. Citric acid was then added at concentration of 400 mg/kg (0.04%) to liquid jaggery and then potassium meta-bisulphite at concentration of 500 mg/kg (0.05%) was mixed. The supernatant was filtered slowly and gently heated at 600C temperature. The resulting liquid jaggery was then filled and stored in sterilized glass bottles.
The nutritional composition of thus formed liquid jaggery is given herein below along with comparative accounts of jaggery and sugar.
Sr.
No. Particulars Jaggery Liquid jaggery Sugar
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10 Sucrose (%)
Glucose (%)
Water (%)
Proteins (%)
Calcium (%)
Phosphorus (%)
Iron (mg/100g)
Copper (mg/100g)
Vitamins ‘B’ (mg/100g)
Energy K cal. 65-85
10-15
3-10
0.25
0.40
0.045
11.00
0.8
20.0
383 40-60
15-25
30-35
0.10
0.30
0.03
7.5-8
0.5
14.0
294 99.5
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
398