Quality characteristics of blackgram papad

Twelve commercial samples (S1-S12) of blackgram papad from south Indian markets were studied for sensory and physico-chemical properties, and positioned using canonical discriminant analysis (CDA). Results of analysis revealed perceptible variations in physico-chemical characteristics in both raw and fried papads. The percentage expansion on frying ranged from 32.75+/-2.73 (S4) to 73.53+/-3.47 (S3) and the extent of oil absorption varied from 28.30+/-0.02 (S4) to 49.45+/-0.03 (S3). The percentage expansion of papads negatively correlated with the moisture content of raw and fried papads (-0.86 and -0.76, respectively). Significant differences were seen in CIE color parameters, namely L* and a* values, between raw and fried samples for S1, S2, S4, S5 and S9, and for S3, S4, S6, S10 and S11, respectively, whereas b* values were significantly different for all the samples except for the sample S4. Sensory analysis using the quantitative descriptive analysis method revealed that all samples had good overall quality and had higher scores for the positive attributes, namely color, crispness, snappiness and blackgram aroma. A positive correlation (0.67) was found between the sensory score for yellow color and b* values. Further CDA was run to position the samples. The results of CDA indicated that samples S1 and S10 were grouped together in the same quadrant, which represents fairly high levels of four attributes (blisters, oily aroma, snappiness and overall quality). Samples S9, S11, S3 and S4 were located away from the directional vectors, having lower intensities of many attributes.