Elaboración de un dulce de leche endulzado con jarabe de jícama (Smallanthus sonchifolius)

Abstract

Dulce de leche is known to be a dairy food sweetened with approximately 30-50 percent refined sugar, which is of concern to consumers because of its impact on health. The present study focused on the production of a dulce de leche sweetened entirely with jicama syrup (Smallanthus sonchifolius), with the aim of improving its nutritional value. To make the dulce de leche, jicama syrup was first made with different concentrations (49.6, 59.2, 66.1 and 87.5) of brix degrees respectively, and then the dulce de leche was made with the different concentrations of syrup. Jicama syrup is a sweetener that provides a high mineral content. The results obtained showed a significant difference between treatments, indicating that jicama syrup does affect the organoleptic characteristics of the product. The treatment with the best formulation based on sensory analysis was the dulce de leche sweetened with concentrated jicama syrup at 87.5 degrees brix, as it is the most accepted by the tasters. The physicochemical analysis values obtained were total solids 60.65 plus minus 1.15 percent, moisture 39.24 plus minus 1.72 percent, ash 2.59 plus minus 0.04 percent, fat 6.5 percent, pH 6.7 plus minus 0.36, density 1.43 plus minus 0.12 and initial viscosity 35000 mega pascals per second. These physicochemical values are within the range established by NTE INEN 700, except for moisture and ash, which were higher in the processed product.