Application of statistical techniques to analyse keeping quality of ghee characteristics

Ghee has quite a long history, as it has been used in Indian cooking for thousands of years and also in religious ceremonies and various healing arts in Indian culture. Additionally, Ghee's nutritional and health benefits are touted as ideal for anyone from athletes to simple dieters. It is necessary for the Indian families to keep the procured ghee for a longer period due to its fluctuation in the price and the availability in the market. It has motivated us to study the behaviour and to improve the keeping quality of ghee characteristics. For fats, in general, significance of carbonyl compounds in the off-flavour produced is well established. The carbonyl compounds are formed by chain reactions which can be checked by the removal of carbonyls by extraction (with water) method. The purpose of this paper is twofold. The first one is to study the impact of the keeping quality of ghee characteristics to preserve the ghee for a longer period and the second purpose is to use the statistical techniques to analyze the data pertaining to various problems in dairy science. As a result we have used several statistical techniques including graphs, tables, t-tests and one way analysis of variance to analyze the data. This study reveals that the removal of the carbonyls extends the shelf-life of ghee by delaying the formation of undesirable flavour by free fatty acids, phospholipids and phenols.