Development, Quality Evaluation and Acceptability of Ice Cream from Cow Milk, Tigernut and African Yam Bean Seed Milk

Background and Aim: Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It is usually made from dairy products such as milk (usually cow milk). Recently, health-conscious individuals do not often consume ice cream because they are lactose intolerant. Hence, analogs made from goat’s or sheep’s milk, or milk substitutes (e.g., soy milk, tiger nut milk and so on) may serve as alternatives to cow milk (partially or fully substituted) in the production of ice cream. The aim of this study was production, quality evaluation and acceptability of ice cream from the blends of cow milk, tiger nut, and African yam bean seed milk.

Methods: The collected tiger nuts and African yam bean seed was processed into flours before the extraction of milk from the flours. Cow milk, tiger nut milk, and African yam bean milk were formulated in different proportions of 100:0:0, 50:25:25, 50:50:0, 50:0:50 and 0:50:50 respectively which were coded as CAT1, CAT2, CAT3, CAT4 and CAT5. The proximate composition, physiochemical properties and sensory evaluation of ice cream were investigated.

Results: Results generated showed that protein content ranged from 3.28 to 7.70%, fat from 0.90 to 3.09%. Addition of African yam bean and tiger nut milk increased the protein content and ash contents from 5.30 to 7.70% and 131 to 3.00% respectively. The pH, TTA total solid and solid non-fat (SNF) were significantly p=.05 higher in the control sample (100% cow milk) when compared with ice cream produced from African yam bean and tiger nut milk blends. The sensory scores showed that sample CAT1 was the most preferred by the panelists in terms of the overall acceptability followed by sample CAT4.

Conclusion: There was an increase in the proximate composition of the ice cream produced from the blends of tiger nut milk and African yam bean seed milk. In terms of the overall acceptability, the control sample was the most preferred of all the samples by the panelists.