Pumpkin (Cucurbita sp.) is a natural ingredient with health benefits because of its rich contents of vitamins (A, B1, B2 and C) minerals (K, P, Mg, Fe and Se), β‐carotene, pectin and dietary fiber. In this study, low-fat probiotic yogurt samples enriched with pumpkin powder (1% YPP1, 3% YPP2 and 5% YPP3) and inulin (1%) were produced to achieve the potential health benefits of pumpkin and inulin. Results showed that the addition of pumpkin powder and inulin slightly increased acidity and increased viscosity of low-fat probiotic yogurts with increasing pumpkin powder and during cold storage period. Also, addition pumpkin powder and inulin was improved the survival of yoghurt cultural and Bifidobacterium lactis Bb-12 to 7.28 log cfu g−1 YPP2 comparison with plain (-) yogurt 6.33 log cfu g−1 after 14 days of storage period. The sensory evaluation revealed that there was statistically significant difference (P ≤ 0.05) between yoghurt with addition pumpkin powder and plain (-) yoghurt especially in color and flavor. So, according to present results addition of inulin and pumpkin powder can be used as a fat replacement to improve the texture profile analysis during the cold storage period, and to increase the yoghurt shelf life of low-fat yoghurt. Also, the addition of powder pumpkin (3%) and inulin (1%) to low- fat probiotic yogurts could be an alternative to incorporate the fat and texture improvers in dairy products. Therefore, adding pumpkin (3%) and inulin (1%) to low-fat yogurt is an alternative to adding artificial texture improvers and fat alternatives to low-fat probiotic yogurt as a new functional dairy food.
Authors: Al-Zahraa Mohamed Darwish
Publish Year: 2020
