Development and quality evaluation of traditional styled ready to eat pickle from paneer

Ready to eat traditional styled paneer pickles were developed by using vegetable oil, vinegar and lemon juice and were studied for various physico - chemical characteristics, microbial quality characteristics and sensory acceptability. Significantly (P< 0.05) lower pH and higher titrable acidity (% acetic acid) values were observed in vinegar based ready to eat paneer pickle followed by lemon juice and vegetable oil incorporated ready to eat paneer pickle. The product yield (%) and moisture (%) values were significantly (P< 0.05) higher in vegetable oil incorporated ready to eat paneer pickle followed by lemon juice and vinegar based ready to eat paneer pickle. No coliform and yeast and mould counts were observed in ready to eat paneer pickle. However, significantly (P< 0.05) higher total plate counts were observed in vegetable oil incorporated ready to eat paneer pickle followed by lemon juice and vinegar based ready to eat paneer pickle and the counts were within the standard stipulated for cooked meat products. All sensory scores were significantly (P< 0.05) higher for lemon juice based ready to eat paneer pickle as compared to vinegar and vegetable oil based ready to eat paneer pickle. Therefore, it can be concluded that highly acceptable traditional styled ready to eat paneer pickle can be prepared by using lemon juice with optimum physico-chemical and microbial qualities.