Development of a Probiotic Fermented Milk with Aloe Vera Juice

Abstract

The cultivation of Aloe vera for its use in medications, functional foods and cosmetics has been spread out in the last years. The gel has been used in the food elaboration by its nutritional  and restorative value. The aim of this research was to develop a probiotic fermented milk with juice of Aloe vera with quality and acceptability indexes that can be compared with established standards for this kind of product. An experiment design named Response Surface was made (10 to 15% of juice of aloe; 1 to 3% of starter cultures) and the response parameters were: coagulation time, acidity, viability and acceptability. Viscosity, coagulum firmness and mineral contains were determined to the accepted formulations, and they were compared to fermented milk without aloe. Three formulations were accepted by their sensorial attributes of quality and coagulation time. The same fulfilled the therapeutic minimum of viability and the sensorial evaluation was of ¨I like it too much¨, (10% of juice) and “I like so much” (12.5 and 15%). The quality indexes remained for 28 days of refrigerated storage. The fermented milks with aloe presented coagulum firmness higher to fermented milk without aloe, (3.5 to 4.8 times) a nd viscosity increased from 1,70 to 2,3 times. The addition of aloe juice favoured the product because of the increase of the mineral contains. The new product presented a viscose and creamy texture with a slight flavour of juice of Aloe vera.