VALORIZATION OF WHEY FOR PRODUCTION OF AN INNOVATIVE WHEY DRINK FORTIFIED WITH CUMIN AND ASAFOETIDA

Abstract

The present study was undertaken to develop a value-added innovative whey drink (IWD)fortified with cumin and asafoetida. Fresh curd Whey was pasteurized and concentrated in open pan to prepare a whey drink using sugar, salt, cumin and asafoetida at different combination. The effect of ingredients on IWD formulated using 42 factorial experiment (16 treatment combination) were determine through two-way ANOVA method in IBM SPSS Statistics 26 for its sensorial and antioxidant activity. Two level of sensory evaluation was done to optimize the salt, sugar, cumin and asafoetida. The salt and sugar mainly influence the flavour and overall acceptability of IWD. The combination of 2% salt and 7.5% sugar recorded the highest flavour score (8.00 ± 0.45) and overall acceptability (8.13 ± 0.27) based on 9-poin hedonic scale.  Cumin and asafoetida significantly influenced the sensory parameters and antioxidant activity of IWD. The formulation containing 0.125% cumin and 0.125% asafoetida exhibited the highest flavour (8.17 ± 0.29), body and texture (8.08 ± 0.30) and overall acceptability (7.92 ± 0.35). However, the highest ABTS antioxidant activity (41.48 ± 1.15) was observed with 3% cumin and 5% asafoetida. The findings demonstrate that increasing spice concentrations can enhance antioxidant activity but may adversely affect sensory acceptability. The level of ingredients was selected based on the sensorial parameters. The study demonstrates the potential of cumin and asafoetida for developing a value-added whey beverage with desirable sensory and functional properties.