The objective of this research was to investigate the growth of probiotic bacteria in milk supplemented with medicinal plant extracts, in order to fabricate a novel probiotic dairy product.
The fermented dairy product was obtained from cow milk, bilberry (Vaccinium myrtillus L.) and liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra L.) extracts. The fermentation process was made at 40 ºC, for 5 hours, using a fast fermentation starter culture (ABT–5) as sourse of Lactobacillus acidophilus (A), bifidobacteria (B) and Streptococcus thermophilus (T).
During incubation and storage the following parameters were determined: the titratable acidity, the pH, the lactose content, the syneresis, the water holding capacity, the dynamic viscosity and the number of lactic bacteria. The final product was stored at 5 ± 1°C for 8 days.
It was observed that the product had been preserving its functional properties during storage and the rheological measurements showed that the product is a non-Newtonian fluid with time-independent characteristics.