Abstract:
Cashew nuts are one of the most nutritious, healthy and tasty tree nuts. Nut spreads are
popular and widely accepted by the consumers due to their flavour, nutritional values
and convenience. The market leader of the nut spread industry in Sri Lanka is the
product “Nutella”. However there are no locally manufactured nut spreads similar to
the product “Nutella” in the local market. Therefore the prime objective of this study
was to develop a nut spread with cocoa which is similar to the product “Nutella” using
locally grown cashew nuts. Cashew nut spread with cocoa was developed using the
ingredients of cashew butter, cocoa powder, sugar, water, vegetable oil, skimmed milk
powder, whey powder, lecithin and carrageenan. Three developed spreads having
different cashew butter to cocoa powder ratio were evaluated for sensory attributes of
appearance, colour, odour, spreadablity, taste, mouth feel and overall acceptability.
Another sensory evaluation was conducted with two developed spreads and the
product “Nutella” to evaluate the same sensory attributes. Shelf-life of the most
sensory scored sample was tested for six weeks by evaluating microbial, physicochemical and sensory properties. A cost analysis was done for the selected product and
its crude protein, crude fat, moisture, total solids, ash and crude fiber content were
determined. Data about the sales of the product “Nutella” were collected from all local
Cargills super markets for the year 2014 and for first five months of the year 2015.This
study reveals that the cashew nut spread with cocoa prepared with 8.5% cashew butter
and 5% cocoa powder scored maximum for almost all sensorial quality attributes and
the product “Nutella” was most preferred than those of developed products. The best
sensory scored sample could be stored best at refrigeration condition. A reducing trend
was observed in pH value, but the product remained unchanged with respect to brix
value and oil separation. The selected product contains 0.91% crude protein, 14.66%
crude fat, 28.51% moisture, 71.49% total solids, 4.16% ash on dry basis and 1.83% of
crude fiber. The cost for 180 g bottle of the best scored spread was Rs.70.10. Cashew
nuts can be effectively used for the production of a nut spread with cocoa and it will
open a new avenue for the utilization of cashew nuts. The developed product could
have a good potential in Sri Lankan market.
