COMPARISON OF PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES AND GENERAL ACCEPTANCE OF FLAVORED DRINKING YOGURT CONTAINING DATE AND FIG SYRUPS

Milk and dairy products have a rich nutritional value and they are the main constituents of a human diet. In recent years, the consumption of dairy drinks containing water, sugar syrups and flavorings has been common. So it is important to find a natural alternative sweetener to remove sugar. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to produce flavored drinking yogurt with natural sweeteners like date syrup and fig syrup as a sugar substitute. The study was made of the comparing physicochemical properties and also of opinions about the general acceptance of flavored drinking yogurt with date and fig syrups. The physicochemical properties such as pH, titratable acidity, viscosity, total solid, syneresis and the sensory evaluation of samples were determined weekly at 4°C for 28 days. The results showed that the samples that contained fig syrup had a lower acidity and syneresis percentage while their viscosity was higher compared to the samples that contained date syrup. It can be concluded that flavored drinking yogurt with 10% fig syrup and 1% pectin was chosen as the best treatment since it was rated the highest in general acceptance compared to other samples