Processing Packaging and Storage of Jaggery from Sugarcane

Jaggery is a specific type of sugar popular in India derived from sugarcane juice. A study was conducted to evaluate jaggery quality by packaging jaggery in different material and packaging conditions. The results revealed that, the best packaging material for storing jaggery in ambient atmosphere was triple layered vacuum packaging material followed by double layer and single layer material. The change in total colour, sucrose content, hardness, reducing sugar content, moisture content, porosity and microbial load in jaggery were observed to be very minimum in jaggery packaged under vacuum in triple layer material. Not much variation was observed in the ash content at the end of storage period. Further, the jaggery product stored under the above condition had scored highest values in the sensory evaluation.