Production and characterization of synbiotic kefir cow milk with addition of Dioscorea esculenta puree

Abstract

Kefir is an acidic, alcoholic, and carbonate-flavored milk product, wich is widely consumed in the Caucasian region. Kefir is produced through natural fermentation of milk from cows, goats, or sheep with a combination of lactic organisms and yeast on kefir seeds or kefir grains. The type of bacteria and yeast used in the manufacture of kefir is Lactobacillus sp. and Saccharomyces. Kefir is a natural probiotic and is classified as a functional food. In addition, a well-known functional food is synbiotic, which is a combination of probiotics and prebiotics. One agricultural commodity that contains prebiotics is Dioscorea esculenta. In this research, synbiotic cow milk kefir was made by adding Dioscorea esculenta puree which aims to get a superior kefir product by adding Dioscorea esculenta puree to kefir, with the parameters of titrated acid total, pH value, viscosity, and growth of lactic acid bacteria and yeast. The results showed that the selected synbiotic kefir formulation was kefir with the addition of 8% Dioscorea esculenta puree with a fermentation time of 28 hours and had the following characteristics: titrated acid total 1.07%, pH value 3.87, viscosity 1231.37cp, lactic acid bacteria total 10.13 log CFU / ml and yeast total 9.08 log CFU / ml. The results of this analysis had fulfilled the CODEX standard No.243 of 2003.