Uses of mares’ milk in manufacture of fermented milks

Eight fermented milks (FM) were manufactured from mares’ milk by using: mares’ milk alone (FM1); a blend of mares’ milk and cows’ milk (FM2) or sheeps’ milk (FM3), at respective weight ratio of 70 to 30; mares’ milk fortified with sodium (Na)-caseinate (FM4) added at a level of 15 g kg 1 ; pectin (FM5) added at a level of 2.5 g kg 1 ; Na-caseinate and pectin (FM6); Na-caseinate, pectin and sucrose added at a level of 100 g kg 1 (FM7); or Na-caseinate, pectin and threonine added at a level of 0.8 g kg 1 (FM8). Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus were used as starter cultures (ca. 9.0 and 7.0 log cfu g 1 , respectively) by inoculating (10 g kg 1 ) the milk at 42 C: Fermentation was allowed until the pH reached 4.2 (190–380 min). Data of acidification rate were modelled with the Gompertz equation. The concentration of lactic acid in the fermented milks ranged from 100 to 135 mm; it was highest in all FMs which contained Na-caseinate. The highest concentration of acetaldehyde (0.45 mm) was found in FM8. Rheological measurements showed that FM7 had the highest consistency coefficient (k). There was a correlation between the sensory consistency scores and the consistency index obtained from the rheological measurements. The addition of sucrose, pectin and, especially, threonine were positively correlated with a rather good taste. FM1 had unacceptable apparent viscosity and received the lowest scores for appearance, consistency and taste.