Quality and sensory acceptability of a chilled functional apple ready-dessert

Abstract

An apple and dairy based ready-dessert with an added prebiotic was stored and chill temperatures and number of quality attributes were monitored during chill (4 °C) storage for 30 days. All ready-desserts were thermally processed by sous vide ( P90 > 10 min). The stability of the dairy component in ready-desserts was monitored by measuring volatile free fatty acids. Changes in these components were more evident in prebiotic-enriched samples compared to controls. However, no significant differences were observed over storage in control and prebiotic-enriched ready-desserts. This was supported by sensory analysis that showed no significant changes over storage in control or prebiotic-enriched samples. Of the other quality parameters, the addition of prebiotic inclusions resulted in lower L and b values and dry matter ( p < 0.05), while increasing ( p < 0.05) soluble solids content compared to control samples. Fluctuations in some of the quality parameters were also observed over storage. Rheological characteristics, i.e. flow behaviour ( n), consistency index ( K), storage ( G′), loss ( G″) and complex ( G*) moduli were unaffected by prebiotic inclusion. However, storage affected the rheological characteristics of ready-desserts. A decrease ( p < 0.05) in flow behaviour ( n) led to concomitant increases in consistency index ( K) and complex modulus ( G*) values in control samples.