OPTIMIZATION OF MILK TYPE AND PHYSICAL FACTORS FOR REDUCTION OF ALCOHOL CONTENT IN KEFIR

Milk kefir beverage has enormous health benefits. However, alcohol content in kefir may represent a barrier for some consumers, so this work attempts to reduce its alcohol content. Three main factors, i.e., the type of milk, inoculum size and incubation temperature were investigated. Results showed that cow’s milk inoculated with 2% kefir grains (KG) and incubated at 24ºC for 48h had the lowest ethanol concentration (EC), however, ewe’s milk and soymilk contained the highest EC. According to EC in the previous experiment, buffalo’s, cow’s and goat’s milk were selected to prepare milk kefir. Cow’s milk kefir (CMK) had the lowest EC (0.062± 0.041), while, goat’s milk kefir (GMK) had the highest EC (0.093±0.021) at zero time. Moreover, buffalo’s milk kefir (BMK) had the highest pH, total solids, acetaldehyde, lactose and viscosity. Statistically, after 10 d BMK won the greatest Overall quality (5.825) while CMK came in the second place (5.355) then GMK (5.310).