Research Article
Patrick S. Muliro, Peter L. Sh
Abstract
Studies carried out on camel milk showed that during coagulation only flocs could be obtained with no firm coagulum. The objective of this study was therefore to improve camel milk coagulum formation through addition of stabilizers and evaluate how stabilized fermented camel milks compares with the fermented cow milks. Samples for the study were pooled fresh camel milk and pooled fresh cow milk. The treatments for the tests were; camel milk, camel milk with 0.4 % gelatin, camel milk with 0.8 % gelatin, camel milk with 2 % corn starch, camel milk with 0.8 % gelatin combined with 2 % corn starch and cow milk. Samples for coagulum formation tests were acidified with 1.6 % Gluco-d-lactone (GDL) and incubated at 25°C for 24 hours and those for consumer preference tests were inoculated with 3 % yoghurt starter culture and 3 % mesophilic starter culture for yoghurt and mesophilic fermented milks respectively. The responses were; acid development in pH, product flow in seconds for viscosity and degree of syneresis (whey separation) in ml for coagulum formation tests and degree of consumer preference in hedonic rating scales for consumer preference test. The study established that the viscosity and the rate of syneresis of the milk gels are significantly different at (p £ 0.05), with the cow milk having the highest viscosity followed by the camel milk stabilized with gelatin and starch. On the rate of syneresis, camel milk stabilized with gelatin and starch exhibited the lowest rate of syneresis. Consumer preference test on yoghurt showed that there was no significant difference at (p £ 0.05), in preference between yoghurt from camel milk stabilized with gelatin and starch and yoghurt from cow milk. The consumer preference for mesophilic fermented milks was found to be significantly different at (p £ 0.05).