Vol. 8, Special Issue 4 (2023)

Author(s): Kumari M, Somveer, Vikram and Lakshmaiah B

Abstract: Dahi, a cherished traditional delight from the Indian subcontinent, is obtained through the lactic acid fermentation of milk. The secret to its longevity lies in the controlled storage, where the dance of moisture evaporation dictates its shelf life. Refrigeration is desirable, as room temperature hastens its demise, and the expanse for moisture to dissipate adds to its weight loss during storage. Our study embarked on formulating computational models, envisioning the future of moisture evaporation under varied storage. The highest moisture removal of 0.222± 0.02 g or 0.444% was observed for dahi samples stored in plates (0.011 m2) at 4 °C. The loss of moisture was found in kinship with humidity and surface area, with 0.444% evaporation removal in 120 mm Petri plates at 4 °C and a gentle 0.200% loss was observed in 90 mm Petri plates at 37 °C. The generated computational models for forecasting moisture loss, showed remarkable alignment (R2>0.9) with the experimentally obtained results.