Physicochemical properties and sensory evaluation of paneer whey popsicles enriched with betel vine leaves and fennel seeds

An experiment entitled “Utilization of betel vine leaves and fennel seeds in whey popsicles” was carried out at the Division of Animal Husbandry and Dairy Science, Rajarshee Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj (RCSM) College of Agriculture, Kolhapur during the academic year 2021-22 and 2022-23 with object to optimize the different level of betel vine leaves and fennel seed extract in selected whey for developing whey based popsicle and studied the sensory qualities as well as physical-chemical properties of whey based popsicle. The experiment was optimized as per Response Surface Methodology (RSM) by using Design Expert version 8.0.7.1 software. The whey based popsicle prepared from optimized levels was analyzed for sensory and physico-chemical qualities. The results showed that the colour and appearance, Flavour and overall acceptability score of milk was recorded maximum for formulation, which had 25 percent BVL and 9 percent sugar. The statistical analysis of data revealed that the calculated adequate precision value for all the sensory score was found to be more than 4 which was high enough for satisfactory model. Further, the model 'F' value also indicated all the model was significant. The pH, specific gravity, viscosity, total solid and TSS of whey based popsicle was ranged from 4.24 to 5.45, 1.042 to 1.065, 1.19 to 1.46cP, 7.84 to 14.68 and 8 to 12 (ºBrix) respectively. The total phenolic content of whey based popsicle was 11.90 GAE/ml. During optimization the best solution exerted through the software contained BVL and sugar at 26.60 and 9.83 percent, respectively. The validation of the prediction was done by actual observations recorded for sensory score. The optimized formulation had 8.29, 7.92, 8.35, 8.19 and 8.19 score for colour and appearance, body and texture, flavour, melting characteristic and overall acceptability, respectively. Whey based popsicle received the excellent choice of preference by the 43.5 percent of consumers.