Optimisation of prebiotic honey and oligofructose for development of cultured low fat synbiotic buttermilk

Buttermilk is one of the most important functional dairy products leftover after the churning of cream, that have excellent health and disease curing potentials and it is now receiving high interest from consumers all over the world. The churning of curd into buttermilk degrades the milk proteins which help in their easy digestion. In cultured low fat synbiotic buttermilk samples with optimum combination of prebiotics and probiotics will help to improve its nutritional qualities and deliciousness. Different levels of prebiotics such as honey and oligofructose at 2, 3, 4 and 5 per cent level were added in the preparation of cultured low fat synbiotic buttermilk samples to assess the optimum inclusion level of them based on the sensory evaluation by the panel of sensory judges by 9 point hedonic scale. The sensory evaluation of the resultant products showed that honey and oligofructose added separately at the rate of 2 per cent level in the samples were acceptable by the sensory panel because those samples were similar to that of control. Hence the optimum inclusion level of prebiotics viz., honey and oligofructose was recommended up to 2 per cent for the preparation of prebiotic buttermilk.