Qualitative study of khoa produced in major khoaproducing areas

Khoa an important indigenous milk product, is used as a base material for avariety of sweets, such as burfi, peda, gulabjamun, milk cake, Kalakand, Kunda etc.Conventionally it is prepared by continuous boiling of milk in an open kettle untildesirable concentration (normally 65- 72 per cent total solids) and texture areachieved. According to one estimate about 5.5 per cent of total milk production isconverted into khoa (Banerjee, 1997), The manufacture of Khoa is largely in thehands of private traders (Halwais). They use highly primitive techniques essentiallybased on their experience. The scale of production is too small each batch comprisingof about 4 -5 liters of milk. The equipment used for manufacture of khoa is made upof iron or cast iron or mild steel. The conventional method used by halwais for themanufacture of khoa are through simple and cost effective, suffer from severalinherent limitations (Pal, 2000). In the present investigation it can be suggested thatthe good processing and handling practices as well as proper packaging and marketingof khoa can increase the shelf life of khoa. The various constrains faced by theproducers must be sorted out and mechanization of khoa.