Processing and evaluation of a date juice-milk drink.
Yousif A. K., Alghamdi A. S., Hamad A., Mustafa A. I.
Author Affiliation: Dept. of Nutrition and Food Tech., Fac. Agric., Jordan Univ., Amman, Jordan.
Egyptian Journal of Dairy Science 24 : 277-288
Abstract : A milk drink was produced by mixing date juice (prepared from ground dates and tap water) with milk. The drink was bottled and heated in boiling water for 30 min. A 60:40 date:milk mixture produced a more acceptable product than a 75:25 or 45:55 mixture. Optimum pH was 6.6. Nine cultivars of Saudi Arabian dates were assessed. Ruzeiz dates gave the best sensory scores. Mean composition of the drink prepared from Ruzeiz dates was compared with that of imported mango-milk drink. Ruzeiz date-milk drink had a higher sugar content (17.97 vs. 11.15) composed of lactose, glucose and fructose, compared with the mango-milk drink which contained only lactose and sucrose. The date-milk drink was rich in calcium, phosphorus and magnesium and contained less sodium than did the mango-milk drink. Storage at 25°C for 16 weeks resulted in significant reductions in pH and sugar and moisture contents, and an increase in colour intensity. However, flavour remained good.