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Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2008) 416–421

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A new method of producing date powder granules:

Physicochemical characteristics of powder
Shyam S. Sablani a,*, Ashok K. Shrestha c, Bhesh R. Bhandari b
a
Department of Biological Systems Engineering, Washington State University, P.O. Box 646120, Pullman, WA 99164-6120, United States
b
School of Land, Crop and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia
c
Centre for Nutrition and Food Sciences, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, 4072, Australia

Received 26 October 2007; received in revised form 21 December 2007; accepted 26 December 2007
Available online 8 January 2008

Abstract

A mixing technique was developed to produce free flowing powder granules from date. This method involved preparation of the paste
from raw date, mixing with maltodextrin powder followed by an oven drying. In order to determine an optimum proportion of date paste
and maltodextrin (DE 6) to produce stable granules, mixing was carried out at various levels of maltodextrin (MD) ranging between
0.54 kg and 1.0 kg per kg of date paste (dry weight basis). The date paste dried with 1.0 kg of maltodextrin/1.0 kg of date paste produced
non sticky and free flowing powder. Several physicochemical parameters such as water activity, bulk density, color, hygroscopicity and
glass transition temperatures of date powders were measured. The caking of date powders during storage at room temperature was
explained using the concept of glass transition temperature.
Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords: Bulk density; Color; Differential scanning calorimeter; Date paste; Thermal mechanical compression test; Hygroscopicity; Glass transition
temperature; Water activity

1. Introduction alternative uses of low quality dates such as date syrup,

The date palm, Phoenix dactylifera, is one of most
important plants of arid, desert area of the Middle East,
Southern Asia and Northern Africa for over 5000 years.
The commercial production of dates in the USA started
in late 19th and early 20th century and is still an important
component of desert agriculture in Southern California
and Arizona (Hodel and Pittenger, 2003). In some Middle
East countries like Oman, date palm trees occupy about
82.6% (35,000 ha) of the total fruit area and contributes
significantly to agricultural export. The date fruit is non cli-
macteric fleshy fruit. Date solids mostly consist of fructose
and glucose and a small quantity of dietary fiber. Most of
the premium quality dates are either consumed fresh or in
ripened form. Several efforts have been made to identify
*
Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 509 335 7745; fax: +1 509 335 2722.
E-mail address: ssablani@wsu.edu (S.S. Sablani).
jam, bar, vinegar etc. This study attempted to produce a
powder from date paste by a novel but simple technique.
The date powders can be used in confectionary, bakery
and ice creams.
One of the challenges of producing fruit powders is to
reduce stickiness during drying and safe handling and stor-
age of the powder (Bhandari et al., 1997a; Jaya et al., 2006).
The stickiness in fruit powders is mainly due to the presence
of low molecular weight sugars, such as fructose, glucose,
sucrose and some organic acids in the fruit. The date is also
comprised of these sugars. These sugars and organic acids
are very hygroscopic in their amorphous state and have
low glass transition temperature (Roos, 1995; Roos and
Karel, 1991a,b). A relatively mild spray drying condition
(Tinlet = 150–180 °C) or conventional air/vacuum drying
(60–80 °C) methods are employed to produce dried fruit
powders. Under such drying temperatures the atomized par-
ticles undergoing drying tend to stick at the bottom or walls

0260-8774/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2007.12.024
 S.S. Sablani et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2008) 416–421
of the dryer and produce a paste like material instead of
powder (Bhandari et al., 1997). Different materials such as
isolated protein, maltodextrin of different dextrose equiva-
lent (DE) are incorporated in the fruit pulp in order to
reduce the stickiness and produce free flowing powders
(Peleg and Hollenbech, 1984; Roos, 1995; Roos and Karel,
1991b; Bhandari et al., 1997). In some cases, anti-caking
agents such as tricalcium phosphate, silicon dioxide, sili-
cates, phosphates, salts of stearic acid and modified carbo-
hydrates are also used to improve handling properties of
some powders (Roos and Karel, 1991a; Bhandari et al.,
1997b). These materials (added prior to drying or mixed in
the bulk powder) function in four different ways: (i) compete
with host powders for moisture, (ii) act as physical barrier
between particles, (iii) act as moisture-protective barrier,
and (iv) increase glass transition temperature thus sticky
temperature (Barbosa-Canovas et al., 2005).
In earlier work, James (1971) used tricalcium phosphate,
calcium silicate and calcium oxide at 0.15%, 0.10% and
0.10% of wet mixture, respectively, along with 25–40%
sucrose to produce powder from guava and pineapple
juices using vacuum drying. Jaya et al. (2006) used malto-
dextrin (0.35–0.55 kg/kg of dry mango solids) and trical-
cium phosphate (0.0125–0.0175 kg/kg of dry mango
solids) while producing the powder from mango pulp using
vacuum drying method. Optimum amount of such agents
added to the fruits depends upon the type of fruit being
used to produce the powder, possibly due to the composi-
tional variation in the fruit.
Spray drying is the most common method to produce
powders. The disadvantage with the method is that it is
expensive and cannot be used in simple processing opera-
tion situation. In addition, atomization of date can be dif-
ficult due to the presence of fibers. The removal of fibers by
filtration from date can minimize this problem; however, it
is important to note that the date fiber contributes signifi-
cantly to the flavor, color and nutritive value of the prod-
uct. In addition, prior to spray drying, the paste needs to be
diluted in order to reduce the viscosity to appropriate level
to be able to atomize the liquid. Keeping in mind of all
above factors, this research work aimed at developing an
alternative economical processing technology to convert
the date to powder form. A simple mixing technique was
investigated to determine its technological suitability to
produce date granules. This involved mixing the date paste
with maltodextrin powder to reduce the stickiness of the
product. This research consisted of two major activities
(i) determination of an optimum proportion of date paste
and maltodextrin and (ii) characterization of physical and
thermal characteristics of date powders.
2. Materials and methods
2.1. Production of date powder
Commercially available California Date fruits were pur-
chased from local market of Brisbane, Australia. The mois-
417
ture content and water activity of fresh dates were 20.2%
(w/w) and 0.688 (at 25 °C), respectively. Date flesh was
minced in laboratory scale mincer (1400 W, MG450/
MG470 Kenwood Limited, Hampshire, UK) to make a
smooth paste. Date paste of about 200 g along with the
required amount of maltodextrin (dextrose equivalent,
DE 6) was mixed using a laboratory scale mixer (K45SS,
250 W, Kitchen Aid, Inc., MI). Three batches (reps) of four
different proportions of maltodextrin to date paste (35:65,
40:60, 45:55 and 50:50) were used in the production of date
powders. The mix was then spread to a thickness of about
5 mm on a Teflon coated tray and kept inside an oven
dryer (Thermoline Scientific, Australia) at 70 °C for about
18 h. The dry product was then ground in a hammer mill
(Telemecanique, France) to produce date powder. The
powder was immediately collected in plastic pouches to
avoid moisture pick-up from the air. Laboratory test sieves
(Endecotts Ltd., London, UK) were used to collect date
powder with particle size between 180 lm and 1.0 mm.
This powder was then stored in air tight plastic bottles till
further analysis. Some physical and thermal characteristics
of the powders were measured as described below.
2.2. Physical characteristic
The moisture content of the sample was determined
using vacuum oven at 70 °C for 24 h (AOAC, 1990). The
water activity of date powder was measured using Aqua-
Lab 3 Water Activity Meter (Decagon Devices, Inc.
Pullman, USA). The bulk density of date powders was esti-
mated from measured mass and volume. For this, a cylinder
of known dimension 2.25 cm diameter and 4.5 cm height
was filled with date powder. The cylinder was tapped few
times and excess powder was removed by sliding a ruler
over the edge of the cylinder. Mass of the date powder in
cylinder was then measured using a balance. The volume
of the cylinder was calculated from the known diameter
and height. Hunter L, a and b parameters were determined
using a Minolta Chroma meter (model CR-300, Minolta
Co., Japan) in the reflectance mode where, L is the light-
ness or darkness (black, L = 0; white, L = 100), +a is red-
ness, a is greenness, +b is yellowness, and b is blueness.
The instrument was calibrated with white standard calibra-
tion plate provided by the manufacturer (L = 97.59,
a = 5.06, b = 6.91). Date powders were spread to 5 mm
thick over the white paper, and the tip of the measuring
head was pointed on the samples for measurement. Three
to five measurements were recorded for each sample. The
hygroscopicity (HG) was measured using a procedure
detailed by Jaya and Das (2004). HG was expressed as
the final moisture content attained after equilibrating with
humid air of 79.5% relative humidity. The hygroscopicity
of date powder was measured using following equation:
Dm=M þ M i
HG ¼
1 þ Dm=M
418 S.S. Sablani et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2008) 416–421
where, M is the initial mass of the powder before equilibra-
tion, Dm is the mass increased after equilibration and Mi
(%w.b.) is the initial moisture content of the powder.
2.3. Thermal transitions by DSC
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is a powerful
tool used to investigate thermal and phase transitions of
food and biomaterials. Endothermal and exothermal
changes, and shift in the base line in a DSC thermograph
reveal transitions or reactions occurring during DSC scan,
such as glass transition and melting/solidification. DSC
thus can directly provide the transition temperature and
enthalpy of transition/reaction. A differential scanning cal-
orimeter (Pyris 1, equipped with Intracooler II, Perkin
Elmer 7, CT, USA) was used to perform experiments.
The calorimeter was calibrated according to the instruction
provided by Perkin Elmer user manual by checking tem-
perature and enthalpy of fusion of indium and water as
standards. Date powder samples (5–10 mg) produced using
different concentration of maltodextrin were placed in alu-
minum pans and were cooled to 30 °C at a 10 °C/min
cooling rate, and equilibrated for 1 min. After equilibration
the samples were scanned from 30 to 80 °C at a rate of
10 °C/min. The purpose of above thermal scan was to erase
the thermal history (such as enthalpy relaxation) of the
samples, which otherwise interfere with the Tg determina-
tion. The samples were then quickly cooled to 30 °C at
a cooling rate of 50 °C/min and rescanned from 30 to
150 °C at 10 °C/min. Each thermogram was analyzed for
the onset, mid and end of transition and enthalpy of melt-
ing. Three replicates were used for all samples.
2.4. Thermal transitions by TMCT
Thermal transition of date powder was also measured
by a novel technique called the thermal mechanical
compression test (TMCT). TMCT is a static mechanical
technique developed by Bhandari and co-workers in The
University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia that mea-
sures the Tg of the amorphous powders or caked mass.
The TMCT is based on the principle that an amorphous
sample under compression and temperature ramping sud-
denly transforms from a glassy state to rubbery state which
can be manifested by a sudden displacement of compres-
sion probe (Boonyai et al., 2006). A brief description of this
device along with the working principle is given here. It was
mainly consists of a thermally controlled aluminum block
or sample cell with a round engraved section to hold the
powder. The sample cell was connected with heater con-
troller and temperature data logger. The sample holder
was connected to a texture analyzer TA-XT2 (Stable
Microsystem, UK) fitted with a 35 mm cylindrical alumi-
num probe. The test was carried out in relaxation mode
(constant force applied). A time of 5 min was allowed for
date powder to be compressed at 50 N force by the probe,
for stabilization of powder and probe before thermal scan-
ning. The sample holder with sample was heat scanned
from 25 °C to 100 °C at 30 °C/min and data was recorded.
During heat scanning, at the glass transition temperature
the powder became soft and rubbery causing the down-
ward displacement of probe. Similar heat scanning of mal-
todextrin (DE 6), Tg value P200 °C, was also performed as
a blank to >200 °C at 30 °C/min to obtain the expansion
behavior of sample cell and probe during heating. The
magnitude of expansion by the sample cell (blank value)
was subtracted from the displacement of probe during ther-
mal compression of sample to get the corrected data. The
glass transition temperature (Tg) was determined by per-
forming linear regression of corrected data (Fig. 1). Linear
regression was done at data points at the linear regions
below the glass rubber transition temperature (region
A–B) and extrapolated above the Tg (region C–D).
Similarly, extrapolation of linear regression data above
Tg was performed. The intersection of the two linear lines
is taken as the Tg point.
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Mixing technique to produce powder
This investigation used a simple mixing technique to
convert date paste to powder form. This required a date
mincer and a semi-solid mixing equipment. In this case a
laboratory scale planetary mixer was used. A dough mixer
can also be very suitable for this purpose since the consis-
tency of the product is similar to the dough. The mixing of
maltodextrin powder and date paste produced wet granules
at the initial stage of mixing when maltodextrin was still in
dry form. At this stage the dry powder particles broke the
continuity of paste and converted the paste to granular
form (but still wet). The powder particles also covered
the granules making the mixture a bit drier. However upon
prolong mixing, the dry maltodextrin particles collected
moisture; consequently the mixture was converted to a
Sample
Average
D
DA to DB
Displacement
C
Blank
Linear
regression
A Corrected B range
Tg
Temperature
Fig. 1. Principle of glass transition temperature analysis of food powder
by TMCT including correction for expansion of sample cell.
 S.S. Sablani et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2008) 416–421
paste form (dough type consistency). Depending on the
proportion of maltodextrin and date paste, the wet gran-
ules were slowly converted to a dough form. At lower con-
centration of maltodextrin, the mixture was converted to
this form in a few minutes of mixing. At a maltodex-
trin:date paste proportion of 50:50, the mixture had a drier
consistency and required less time to dry in the oven
(although drying was done for the same period for all sam-
ples). If the proportion of maltodextrin is higher, the mois-
ture content of the mixture will also be lower, consequently
requiring less drying time. In fact for the drying purpose,
wet granules are also better due to their open structure.
Due to the presence of moisture in the date paste
(around 20%, w/w), the mixture required further drying.
It can noted here that the drying condition (70 °C) was
higher than the glass transition temperature of the final
powder, therefore all the mixtures were at rubbery stage
all along the drying process (further discussed in the fol-
lowing section). Optimization of drying temperature and
use of alternative drying method to minimize the possible
heat damage to the product should be studied further.
This investigation found that a mixing technique is quite
feasible to be used to make date paste into granular form.
In this research a maltodextrin:date paste proportion of
50:50 was capable of producing date granules. In many
papers, researchers have reported 45–60% of maltodextrin
addition to convert sugar-rich foods such as honey and
fruit juices into powder form (Bhandari et al., 1997; Jaya
and Das, 2004). It is obvious that the mixing is a simple
technique and does not require sophisticated equipment
and specialized operators as in the case of spray drying.
This is certainly an economic process, although no such
assessment was done in this research.
3.2. Physical and thermal characteristics of date powders
The physical and thermal properties of date powders
prepared with different proportion of maltodextrin (MD)
and date paste are given in Tables 1 and 2. The bulk density
of date powder increased with increasing concentration of
maltodextrin and this was due to lower characteristic
dimension of particles of date powder. The addition of
finer (and heavier) sized maltodextrin particles in the date
paste resulted in a more dense powder mass. The color of
date flesh was dark red whereas maltodextrin powder was
white; therefore, the color profile of these two mixtures
Table 1
Some physical properties of date powders prepared using different proportions of maltodextrin (DE 6) to date paste- proportion
MD:date paste proportion qb (kg/m3)
(dry weight basis)
35:65 658
40:50 669
45:50 717
50:50 787
a
Mean ± standard deviation (of triplicates).
419
was expected to differ with change in their proportions.
The increasing concentration of whitish MD in the reddish
date paste increased the whiteness (L value) and subse-
quently decreased the redness (a value) of the powder. As
indicated by higher b value, the dark reddish color of date
paste with became yellowish with the addition of MD.
Table 1 showed that the hygroscopicity of the date pow-
der decreased with increasing amount of MD. The Califor-
nian date contains about 80% sugars majority of which are
reducing sugars such as glucose and fructose (FAO,
Undated). As compared to macromolecules like maltodex-
trin, dates with low molecular weight amorphous sugars
are very hygroscopic in nature. Therefore, the addition of
maltodextrin reduced the hygroscopicity of the powder. This
certainly enhances the storage stability of the date powder.
The glass transition temperature (Tg) of low molecular
weight sugars (fructose and glucose) are very low (anhy-
drous fructose: 5 °C and glucose: 32 °C) Roos, 1993a,b
and this is why most food powder become sticky at room
temperatures even at very low moisture content. Stickiness
of powders produced from sugar rich products can be
reduced and stability can be increased by adding com-
pounds having higher Tg value. The higher molecular
weight materials such as maltodextrin (anhydrous
Tg = 225 °C) can be used to increase the Tg of the powder
thus increasing the sticky temperature and improving the
stability of powders at room temperature. The Tg of dry
solids for Khalas and Barni verities of dates have been
reported as 63.8 and 57.4 °C, respectively (Rahman, 2004;
Kasapis et al., 2000). The onset glass transition tempera-
ture (Tgi) of date flesh (wet) around water activity of 0.3
has been reported at 13.8 °C (Rahman, 2004).
The onset (Tgi), mid (Tgm) and end (Tge) point of glass
transition of date powders were estimated from the ther-
mogram (Fig. 2). Depending upon the concentration of
maltodextrin used in the production of date powders, the
Tgi increased by 37.1 °C. Table 2 shows the Tgi vary from
7.3 to 44.4 °C when the proportion of MD:date increased
from 35:65 to 50:50. The Tg data explains why the date
powder with maltodextrin: paste proportion of 50:50
remained free flowing even after one year of storage time
in air tight containers at room temperature (25 °C) while
other three samples of date powder with lesser MD con-
tents showed caking. This meant that for this sample
(MD:date paste = 50:50) the storage temperature was
much lower than sticky/caking temperature. A number of
Color parametersa Hygroscopicity (%)
L a b
45.8 ± 0.7 14.9 ± 0.6 24.0 ± 1.6 6.2
49.2 ± 0.2 13.9 ± 0.1 25.9 ± 0.2 5.5
57.9 ± 0.1 12.2 ± 0.1 28.0 ± 0.3 4.1
62.1 ± 0.4 11.9 ± 0.1 32.4 ± 0.1 4.0
420 S.S. Sablani et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2008) 416–421

Table 2
Glass transition temperatures (Tg) of date powders prepared using different concentration of maltodextrin
MD:date paste aw (fraction) Tg °C by DSCa Tg °C by TMCTa
(dry weight basis)
Tgi Tgm Tge
35:65 0.304 7.3 ± 0.9 12.7 ± 1.3 18.2 ± 2.1 NAb
40:50 0.300 8.1 ± 0.8 13.0 ± 2.1 18.2 ± 2.0 NA
45:50 0.334 9.3 ± 1.4 14.5 ± 0.1 18.0 ± 0.1 NA
50:50 0.297 44.4 ± 2.6 47.5 ± 2.0 50.3 ± 2.6 48.6 ± 0.7
a
Mean ± standard deviation (of triplicates).
b
NA means not analyzed – the glass transition temperature of granules lower than the ambient temperature.

45 1.4

1.2
40

Displacement (mm)
Tgm =13.6oC
Heat flow (mW)

35
0.8

o
Tge =19.7 C
0.6
30

0.4
Tg i=7.9oC

25
0.2 Tg =47.8oC

0
20
20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
-20 -10 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
Temperature (°C) Temperature (°C)

Fig. 2. DSC thermogram of date powder containing 0.67 kg maltodex- Fig. 3. Determination of glass transition temperature of date powder
trin/kg of date paste. (1.0 kg MD/kg of date paste) from mechanical behavior measured by
thermal mechanical compression testing.

studies have reported the effect of glass transition on caking

(Jouppila and Roos, 1994a,b) of amorphous food powders.
The stickiness of amorphous powders is due to viscous flow
mechanism which is governed by temperature and moisture
content. Under the influence of water and/or thermal plas-
ticization, a glassy material transforms into rubbery state
at which surface viscosity reduces to below 108 Pas (Down-
ton et al., 1982). At that surface viscosity, the material is
readily sticky. An immediate consequence of stickiness is
that the particles become self-adhesive (cohesive) and
slowly flow under gravity to form a sintered bed (Lillford
and Fryer, 1998). In the case of date powder, the caking
was observed for those samples which had lower glass tran-
sition temperature than the storage temperature (Table 2).
In fact these date powder granules had a rubbery consis-
tency from the start. Due to the large particle size, they
were not yet fused together during the short period storage.
A gentle shaking could still disperse loosely adhered gran-
ules. However, upon storage for longer time without dis-
turbing, the granules fused and formed a caked mass.
The glass transition temperature of date powder with
MD:date paste 50:50 was also measured using TMCT tech-
nique. The value of Tg (48.6 °C) obtained using TMCT
technique compared well with the value (Tgm = 47.5 °C)
measured using DSC (Fig. 3, Table 2). Extensive work of
Boonyai (2005) has also demonstrated with apple, honey
and skim milk powders that the glass transition tempera-
ture obtained using TMCT technique was close to Tgm
measured by DSC. The date powder samples with MD
lower than MD:date paste 50:50 date paste were not ana-
lyzed with TMCT since their expected Tg values were lower
than the room temperature and the current configuration
of TMCT apparatus allow the measurement only above
room temperature.
4. Conclusion
A simple mixing technology was capable of converting
the date paste to granular form. This implies that the
 S.S. Sablani et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 87 (2008) 416–421
process is feasible to be applied in low capital and technol-
ogy environment. Date paste required at least 50% malto-
dextrin to obtain self-stable dry solids. The mixture still
required a drying due to the presence of moisture in the
paste. Further work is required to lower the drying temper-
ature and time to avoid thermal damage to the product
during this process. Shelf life study may provide insight
into physical and chemical stability of the product during
storage. Additional study is underway to incorporate other
ingredients which reduce the amount of carriers and also
improve the nutritive value of the powder.
Acknowledgement
Author Dr. Shyam S. Sablani wishes to thank Univer-
sity of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia for providing him
a partial financial support through Travel Award for Inter-
national Collaborative Research to conduct this study.
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