Total lactic acid bacteria, total dissolved solids, and organoleptic properties of cocogurt with the addition of stevia leaf extracts

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The term "cocogurt," a combination of the words "coconut" and "yogurt," is commonly used to describe yogurt prepared with coconut milk. Cocogurt is a lactic acid bacteriafermented beverage made from coconut milk that has similar properties to yogurt. Sugar is used as the carbon source in the majority of commercially available fermented beverages. Customers, particularly diabetics, are demanding that food items have lower calorie levels, so sugar, which is known to have a high concentration of calories, is beginning to be avoided as a sweetener in some products. In the case of cocogurt, replacing sugar with stevia leaf extract could be an alternative solution. However, there has yet to be any reporting on the inclusion. This study aimed to determine the effect of adding stevia leaf extract to the total lactic acid bacteria, total dissolved solids, and organoleptic properties of cocogurt. This study involved four treatments and five replications, with additions of stevia leaf extract at varying concentrations (T0 = 0%, T1 = 0.5%, T2 = 2%, and T3 = 3.5%). The materials used in the research were grated coconut, stevia leaf powder, skim milk, and yogurt starter. According to the study's findings, adding stevia leaf extract in various quantities had a significant impact (p<0.05) on the amount of total lactic acid bacteria, total dissolved solids, sweetness, and acidity of cocogurt. The T0 treatment had the most lactic acid bacteria, with an average of 4.47×108 ±0.125 log CFU while the T3 treatment had the least, with 6.61×107 ±0.20 log CFU. Each treatment had at least 107 CFU of total lactic acid bacteria which is the minimum required by the Indonesian National Standard for fermented beverages. The T0 treatment had the lowest total dissolved solid value of 2.92±0.11°Brix and the T3 treatment had the highest total solid value of 3.26±0.17°Brix. Therefore, it can be concluded that cocogurt made with 0.5% stevia leaf extract contained the optimal amount of total lactic acid bacteria, meeting the requirements of the Indonesian National Standard, and had a moderately sweet and sour flavor in terms of sweetness and acidity.