# The use of mare’s milk for yogurt ice cream and synbiotic ice cream production

## TL;DR

This study explores using mare's milk to make yogurt and synbiotic ice cream, finding it feasible with good sensory quality and bacterial viability.

## Contribution

The novelty lies in evaluating mare’s milk for synbiotic and yogurt ice cream production, including the effect of inulin on bacterial viability.

## Key findings

- Mare’s milk ice creams had similar protein, fat, and solids content but varied in acidity and texture.
- Inulin increased LAB viability and reduced acidity in mare’s milk ice creams.
- All ice cream variants showed high sensory quality and acceptable textural and melting properties.

## Abstract

During the last years, growing interest in the use of mare’s milk in food production is observed. The subject of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of mare’s milk for the production of yogurt ice cream and synbiotic ice cream. Four variants of mare’s milk ice cream were developed: ice cream with yogurt bacteria without inulin (YO) and with 2% of inulin (YO+I), synbiotic ice cream with 2% inulin and Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus (LCR+I) and with Lactiplantibacillus plantarum (LP+I). Ice creams were enriched with inulin in order to evaluate its influence on the viability of LAB and on the product quality. Physicochemical, textural and sensory analyses were performed. Count of viable bacteria cells was also evaluated. Obtained ice creams did not differ in terms of protein, fat and total solids content (1.85–1.91%, 7.33–7.58% and 24.66–26.96% respectively), but differed in acidity. Ice cream YO, the only one without inulin, had the highest acidity, what suggests that inulin decrease this parameter. Regardless the type of LAB starter culture and inulin addition, samples had the same range of overrun (35.20–44.03%) and melting rate (73.49–79.87%). However the variant of ice cream influenced textural properties and colour parameters. All obtained mare’s milk ice creams had high overall sensory quality. It was noticed, that ice cream with inulin had higher count of LAB (>7logCFU/g), than sample without inulin (>6logCFU/g). In conclusion, mare’s milk may be considered as feasible raw material for yogurt ice cream and synbiotic ice cream production.