Sensory and Chemical Analyses of Non-centrifugal Cane Sugar for its Production in Thailand

Abstract

Non-centrifugal cane sugar (NCS) is a solid product obtained by evaporating sugarcane juice and has been traditionally consumed in most sugarcane growing regions. Thailand is one of the largest cane sugar producers; yet, NCS has been exclusively consumed locally. Aiming at the development of NCS available on a market scale, sensory and chemical analyses using several products were conducted in Thailand. The mean sensory scores were all positive, but the taste score varied greatly depending on the products. These results suggest that even though NCS could be generally accepted in Thailand, consumers’ preferences and accordingly its sales may be strongly influenced by product quality. Among chemical components, sucrose content and K⁺, Ca²⁺, Cl⁻, and SO₄²⁻ contents were, respectively, positive and negative factors that highly correlated with the taste scores; however, the greater correlation coefficients indicated total sugar and total ion contents could elucidate better than any of the other single factors. A multiple regression model using these two variables was considered highly useful as it can explain 83.5% of the variation in taste. From this study, NCSs with higher sugar and lower ion contents were proved to be preferable and thus could be promising products in Thailand.