Peda

There are several varieties of peda and their methods of manufacture also vary from region to region depending on the consumers’requirements. Consequently, the quality of peda varies extremely. The range of variation in sensory quality of peda is given as follows:

Colour – White to light yellow to complete brown.
Flavour – Slight cooked to burnt
Texture – Soft granular
Shape – Normally round
Size – Varies from 20-30 g

Peda is more popular than all other khoa based sweets. The reason is that peda is considered to be a pure food and offered as ‘Prasad’ during religious worships in Hindu temples as well as on religious celebrations. Two types of peda, viz. plain(creamy or white colour) and brown (Lal) peda are available in market. Most of the information available in literature relates to plain peda. Normally peda is more hard and granular than burfi.

  i.Composition of Peda

The composition of laboratory prepared samples of plain peda and of market samples is given in table

Gross composition of peda

The wide variations in the composition of market samples of peda is attributed to all those factors discussed earlier for burfi, such as the type and composition of khoa,level of sugar added, extent of desiccation, type of peda and additives added.

Standards: Presently no standard (PFA or BIS) exists for peda

  ii.Method of Preparation of Peda

Different methods are used for the preparation of peda, depending on the type and scale of production, for example a) traditional method at small and large scale and b) industrial/mechanized method. The method for making brown (Lal) peda is different from these methods. All these techniques are described as below:

a)Traditional method: This method is basically identical to that of burfi preparation wherein a mixture of khoa and sugar is heated at low fire with sufficient working and kneading till desired texture is attained. Peda is normally made into round balls of about 20-25 g size by rolling between the palms. Fig. given below shows the flow diagram of a standardized batch method for making plain peda.

 Flow diagram of making plain peda by traditional method

The following modifications in method of preparation of peda are made to meet special requirements.

• Sugar is added immediately after first boiling or before condensing of milk to develop more burnt and caramelized taste and grainy texture. This method is used in Katch District of Gujarat.

•  Khoa and sugar are cooked with or without ghee for a long time to obtain completely brown colour peda (Lal peda) of long keeping quality. This method is adopted in Mathura (UP) and Dharwad (MS) districts.

• For getting a white product, sugar is added to khoa and mixture heated at relatively slow heat. Sometimes sodium sulphate (Rangkat or bleaching agent) is also added for extra whiteness.

b) Industrial/mechanized method: Recently some dairy plants have undertaken preparation of peda using mechanized units and Rheon shaping and forming machine. They use a planetary mixer for admixing sugar with khoa and also other ingredients. Different steps and equipment required for this industrial method of manufacture of peda, being adopted by Sugam Dairy, Baroda are shown in Fig. In this process, khoa having about 72% TS is prepared on a continuous khoa making unit. In case, such a high total solids is un-achievable,
khoa with low TS is heated at 60oC in a steam jacketed kettle to obtain required TS. This khoa is transferred to a planetary mixer and sugar @ 30% of khoa is added. These are mixed thoroughly. Then flavouring/colouring ingredients and other additives (depending on the type of peda and market demands) are properly mixed. The peda mass is then stored at 0-4oC for about 10 hours so that the temperature of whole lot is adjusted to about 4oC. This low temperature of product is considered necessary for proper functioning (forming/shaping of peda balls) of Rheon machine. The peda balls are formed, wrapped and packed by this automatic machine.

 Flow diagram of the industrial method of peda making