Formulation of functional probiotic dairy dessert with date honey as a sucrose replacement: Chemical, physical, and sensory analysis

Second-grade dates can be valorized through their use in the production of nutritive foods with health benefits. In this study, date honey (DH) and <i>Lactobacillus acidophilus</i> (PB) in various concentrations were used to formulate a dairy dessert. The effects of adding DH (0-20.8 % wt/wt) and PB (0.1-0.3 % wt/wt) to the dairy dessert on its physical (color, texture, taste, aroma), chemical (pH, total titratable acidity (TTA)), and sensory attributes, as well as the survival of PB, were scrutinized. The experiment was designed using Design-Expert software, and the acceptability of all samples was evaluated by 100 judges using a 9-cm hedonic scale. The collected data underwent analysis of variance (ANOVA) and were fitted to a model provided by response surface methodology. Based on our results, although different concentrations of DH resulted in different physical and sensory properties, varying concentrations of PB had no significant effect. The pH value decreased with increasing DH and PB concentrations, while the TTA increased. Samples with higher levels of PB showed increased PB viability, whereas increasing DH concentrations decreased viability. The optimal concentrations were 0.20 % (wt/wt) PB and 10.4 % (wt/wt) DH. We demonstrated that a probiotic date honey dairy dessert is a suitable vehicle for delivering health benefits to consumers by replacing sucrose with a healthy, natural sweetener and incorporating beneficial microorganisms such as <i>L. acidophilus</i>.