Jaggery making reforms, value addition and preservation: A comprehensive review

Abstract

Jaggery is a popular conventional Indian sweetener. It is prepared without the use of chemicals by uniformly heating and condensing clear sugarcane juice. Now a day's people are very conscious of food-related health issues and the quality of food is the focus of consumers. Jaggery is one of the products rich in nutrients including protein, vitamins and minerals. Jaggery can be utilized for various medicinal purposes like blood purification, regulating digestion, beauty treatment, improving metabolism, prevention of different respiratory issues, etc. Due to technological limitations in the processing and storage of its export grade, the jaggery sector is remains at the rural level. The percentage in sugarcane used for the manufacturing of jaggery and khandsari has significantly decreased. This is leading to a decline in annual production of jaggery. There is a need to improve the quality of jaggery and also reduce the production costs so that the jaggery industry can get a boost. New concepts of improving nutritional value by fortification and modification in the design of jaggery processing plant are some of the concepts that can help in achieving the goals. With the addition of nutritional additives, value-added jaggery has a significant export potential and may attract high market prices. To maintain future profitability in the jaggery trade, the manufacturing of various value-added produces and its profitable accessibility are essential. Various Institutes, researchers, and scientists are working on technological development in jaggery processing, preservation, storage, and packaging. The paper presents a comprehensive review of the processing, value addition and preservation of jaggery.