Sensory Acceptability and Stability of Probiotic Microorganisms and Vitamin C in Fermented Acerola (Malpighia emarginata DC.) Ice Cream

Abstract

Six fermented acerola ice creams were produced, containing different starter cultures (Bifidobacterium longum, Bi.lactis, and traditional yogurt starter culture—Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii spp. bulgaricus) and final pH (5 and 4.5). The ice creams were evaluated for probiotic culture viability, vitamin C stability, and sensory acceptance. Mix fermentations were stopped when pH 5.0 and 5.5 were attained. However, after the addition of acerola pulp the determined pH were 4.5 and 5, respectively. Mixes were frozen and stored for 15 wk at −18 °C. The viable counts for probiotic cultures remained above the recommended minimum limit of 106 cfu/g during 15 wk storage even in products with pH 4.5. Vitamin C concentration remained around 140 mg/100 g of product. The attributes of aroma, taste, texture, and overall acceptance obtained scores in the range of 5.15 to 7.22. The fermented acerola ice cream was a suitable food for the delivery of vitamin C and Bifidobacterium strains with excellent viability and acceptable sensory characteristics.

Probiotic ice cream: viability of probiotic bacteria and sensory properties

“…The authors suggested that adding highly acidic fruit to ice cream might be useful in masking the sour taste resulting from the metabolism of probiotic cultures. However, these results should not be generalized, as opposite findings were reported by Fávaro-Trindade et al (2006) for probiotic ice cream with acerola fruit.…”

“…Davidson et al (2000) reported that, in general, ice creams fermented with probiotic cultures presented weaker aroma and taste (poor sensory performance) compared to those fermented with traditional yogurt starters. Thus, the production of probiotic ice creams with high sensory acceptance is a difficult task (Aryana and Summers 2006;Fávaro-Trindade et al 2006;Hekmat and McMahon 1992). However, it is possible to develop probiotic ice cream with good sensorial quality (Christiansen et al 1996;Vardar and Öksüz 2007).…”

“…The majority of studies regarding viability of probiotic bacteria in ice cream have been associated with their survival rate in products obtained by different techniques such as culturing ice cream mix (Akin 2005;Davidson et al 2000;Fávaro-Trindade et al 2006;Hekmat and McMahon 1992), using non-fermented ice cream mix (Alamprese et al 2002;Haynes and Playne 2002), or adding fermented milk to regular ice cream mix (Christiansen et al 1996;Hagen and Narvhus 1999). Figure 1 shows the process flow diagram for production of fermented and non-fermented ice creams.…”

“…However, the pH of fermented ice cream is not as low as that of fermented milks or fermented frozen dairy desserts (about 5.5 in ice cream, compared with 4.5 or less in fermented milks and fermented frozen dairy desserts), resulting in considerably higher viability of probiotic bacteria in ice cream (Kailasapathy and Sultana 2003;Laroia and Martin 1991). For instance, in a study by Fávaro-Trindade et al (2006), ice cream samples containing acerola pulp were formulated with the use of different starter cultures (Bifidobacterium longum, Bifidobacterium lactis, Streptococcus thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus).…”

Desenvolvimento e avaliação de sorbets probióticos e simbióticos elaborados com polpa de Juçara (<i>Euterpe edulis</i>)

“…Por outro lado, a utilização de probióticos em produtos congelados funcionais é bastante promissora, pois o fato de serem conservados a baixas temperaturas os torna mais propensos a manter a dose viável destes microrganismos por toda sua vida de prateleira (DUTHIE et al, 1982;HEENAN et al, 2004, FAVARO-TRINDADE et al 2006FAVARO-TRINDADE et al 2007). …”