Development of made‐in‐transit set culture yoghurt: effect of increasing the concentration of reconstituted skim milk as the milk base

Abstract

SummaryThe fermentation time, yoghurt acidity expressed as lactic acid, starter culture growth, viscosity and firmness of made‐in‐transit (MIT) set culture yoghurt produced using different concentrations of reconstituted skim milk powder (SMP) from 12% to 20% (w/v) as the milk base were investigated. All milk base formulations were ultra‐high temperature sterilised at 138 °C for 6 s. The results revealed that increasing the SMP concentration increased the viscosity and firmness of MIT set culture yoghurt. At 20% SMP, viscosity and firmness were 4650.8 cP and 1.266 N, respectively. Fermentation of MIT set culture yoghurt with 20% SMP was observed to be faster than with the other conditions. The fermentation time for a medium containing from 14% to 20% SMP could be extended to 168 h, reaching a final pH of 4.50–4.37 and at the same time improving the texture of the MIT set culture yoghurt. The SMP concentration had no influence on the total viable counts of starter bacteria in the yoghurt. The texture of MIT set culture yoghurt may be improved by increasing the concentration of SMP.