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A study was conducted at the Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan during the year 2015. The study was designed to check the suitability of date powder in the composition of muffins. The muffins were prepared with different ingredients (fl our, sugar, eggs, butter, milk, salt, baking powder and date powder). These muffins were tested at five treatments i.e. T0 (muffins without date powder), T1 (25% date powder + 75% sugar), T2 (50% date powder + 50% sugar), T3 (75% date powder + 25% sugar) and T4 (100% date powder). The muffins were evaluated for physico-chemical, microbiological and sensory characteristics. The water activity of date muffins was in the range 0.733-0.767. The color value in T0 (0% date powder) was 163 CTn which was the lightest in color among all treatments while T4 (100% date powder) with color value 126.5 CTn was the darkest among all treatments. The muffins in T0 were found to have minimum softness in texture (maximum compression force) i.e. 1539.5 g as compared to muffins containing 100% date powder i.e. T4 (868.5 g). The proximate analysis of muffins indicated that moisture, crude fibre and ash content differed significantly with the addition of date powder. The moisture contents of all treatments ranged from 26.35 to 34.08%. The crude protein contents for all treatments ranged from 11.46 to 15.14%. The protein, fibre and ash content gradually increased in muffins with the addition of date powder. Minimum gross energy value was observed in T0 (476.4 kcal/100g) whereas the highest in T4 (497.22 kcal/100g). The microbial analysis indicated that these muffins were microbiologically safe and can be kept for long time. The sensory analyses indicated that muffins with 50% replacement of sugar with date powder were liked the most by the judges. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Present study was conducted at Institute of Food Science and Nutrition, University of Sargodha during 2013 to check the suitability of date paste in wafers replacing cream. The experiment was conducted using CRD factorial experimental design with three replications and five treatments which were T0 (wafers from market), T1 (100 g of date paste), T2 (10 g of skimmed milk powder + 100 g of date paste), T3 (10 g of grinded sugar + 100 g of date paste), T4 (10 g of sugar and 10 g skimmed milk powder + 100 g of date paste). Wafers were subjected to proximate analysis, microbiological analysis and sensory evaluation. Highest moisture and ash contents and lowest NFE value were observed in T2. The highest crude protein and crude fiber contents were observed in T0. The highest crude fiber contents were observed in T1. The lowest gross energy value was observed in T4. Maximum total plate and yeast and mold counts were observed in T0. After sensory tests by the judges T2 was the most preferred because of its excellent color, flavor, taste, texture and overall acceptability scores. The sensory scores decreased after storage period of 90 days. It is suggested that date paste can be used to prepare date wafers of good sensory and nutritional value which provides substantial amount of carbohydrates, proteins, fats, dietary fiber, and minerals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]