Evaluation of Yogurt Prepared from Locally Propagated Starter Culture

Abstract

This study aimed to propagate starter culture locally for yogurt preparation and conduction of sensory evaluation trials for testing the quality of developed starter culture. Experiments were conducted to select the strains of Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus having most suitable properties for preparation of quality yogurt. The selection criteria included lactic acid production ability and aroma production. To propagate the starter culture whey based medium was found to successfully support the growth of desirable bacterial isolates and, therefore, used to propagate the yogurt culture. The propagated culture was then used for preparation of yogurt and sensorial evaluation of the yogurt was done. The results indicated that the yogurt was liked very much in terms of colour, texture, flavour and taste. Finally a comparative sensory evaluation was done between a sample of local dahi and yogurt prepared from locally propagated culture. It was observed that the yogurt prepared from locally propagated culture was significantly better in quality as compared to yogurt (dahi) prepared by traditional method.