Processing and Characterization of date syrup (Traditional and Thermal)

Date syrup is produced during the last stage of date maturity. The gravity method is the traditional way of producing date syrup. However, this method takes long time and low yield. Nowadays, date syrup is produced by mixing water and date. The syrup is concentrated by water evaporation to match the viscosity of the traditional ones. The heating process reduces the quality in terms of its color and flavor, thus reduces the shelf life. In addition formation of sugar crystals reduces the quality and consistency of the syrup. This project aims to investigate the optimum storage temperate to maintain the quality of date syrup by avoiding crystallization of sugar. Two types of date syrup will be used (traditional and industrial) to assess the quality and physicochemical characteristics. The optimum storage and crystallization temperature will also be determined for different types of date syrups. Crystal growth and size will be determined as a function of storage time, temperature and natural additives. Finally, the quality characteristics of date syrup and crystallized date syrup will be determined by measuring its structural characteristics using Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), Differential Mechanical Thermal Analysis (DMTA), Fourier Transformed Infrared Analysis (FTIR) and Time-Domain Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (TD-NMR). Moreover, sugar analysis will be performed by HPLC and crystal growth and size will be measured using DSC and SEM. The project is expected to evaluate the quality of two types of date syrup (traditional and industrial). The possibility of producing value added date syrups. The project is also expected to study the process of crystal growth in date syrup.