The Physico-chemical, Sensory, and Textural Properties of Misti Dahi Prepared from Reduced Fat Buffalo Milk

High-fat and sugar content may pose a hurdle for the successful marketing of misti dahi because of growing awareness of health impact of these main ingredients among consumers. There is no literature available on the impact of milk fat reduction on the quality of misti dahi. Hence, the effect of reduction of milk fat, by keeping the total milk solids constant, was studied on the physicochemical, sensory, and textural properties of buffalo misti dahi. Fresh raw buffalo milk was divided into three batches and was standardized to three different levels of milk fat viz., 1.5%, 3.0%, and 5.0% using fresh raw skimmed buffalo milk, and the total milk solids (TMS) content was adjusted to 18.0% using skimmed milk powder. The batch containing 5.0% fat was considered as control. Acidity, whey separation, viscosity, water activity (a(w)), lightness (L*), redness (a*), yellowness (b*), firmness, stickiness, work of shear and work of adhesion were determined. Sensory evaluation was carried out using a nine-point hedonic scale method. Significant differences (p<0.05) were observed in the flavour, body and texture, and overall acceptability of misti dahi, with 3.0% fat being better than 1.5% fat product. Acidity increased with the decrease in fat. Fat reduction did not cause any significant changes in the L*, a* and b* values and water activity of misti dahi. The firmness values of misti dahi with 1.5% fat were higher than that of 3.0% fat, but the difference was not significant. The stickiness value of misti dahi with 1.5% fat was more than the control, but the difference was not significant. Hence, on the basis of above results it is concluded that highly acceptable reduced fat misti dahi can be produced with 3.0% fat and 15.0% milk solids-not-fat (MSNF).