Quality Evaluation of Jhol, a Traditional Alcoholic Rice Beverage of Himachal Pradesh Sandal Anupama1, Senthilkumar R.2, Kanwar S.S.3 1Department of Food Science and Nutrition, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176 062, (H.P) 2Department of Food Science and Nutrition, Adhiparasakthi Agricultural College, Kalavai-635 506, (Tamilnadu) 3Department of Microbiology, CSK Himachal Pradesh Krishi Vishvavidyalaya, Palampur-176 062, (H.P) Online published on 23 December, 2016. Abstract The traditional processing method of Jhol, an alcoholic rice beverage of Himachal Pradesh was studied and documented using previously tested structured questionnaire. Jhol samples were collected from three selected region of Kangra district of Himachal Pradesh and biochemical and microbial characteristics of the samples were analysed using standard methods. Moisture content ranged between 92.71 to 93.63, crude protein 0.16 to 0.29, crude fat 0.90 to 1.21 and total ash 1.41 to 1.86 per cent. Reducing sugar content ranged from 0.23 to 0.45, non-reducing sugar 0.23 to 0.53 and total sugar content 0.46 to 0.98 per cent. Calcium content ranged from 1.27 to 1.76, potassium 48.97 to 63.93 and phosphorus 149.71 to 168.76 mg. The pH, titrable acidity, TSS, total sugar content and ethanol content were in the range of 3.64 to 4.11, 0.29 to 0.38, 2.00 to 3.00, 0.46 to 0.98 and 4.47 to 4.68, respectively. The microbial populations of yeast and lactic acid bacteria (LAB) present in the samples were between the range of 5.8 to 8.0 CFU/ml x 106 and 7.0 to 10.9 CFU/ml x 104, respectively. Top Keywords Jhol, rice beverage, alcoholic beverage, fermentation. Top |