Researchers In Poland Found Horse Milk Can Be Used To Make Ice Cream That’s Better For The Gut, Creating Four Different Variants Of The Dessert
The most common dairy animals are cows, goats, sheep, and water buffaloes. Most dairy products are made from the milk of these creatures.
One of the more unusual milk animals is horses. Although horse milk is not often used in the dairy industry, it holds a lot of potential for food production.
Researchers from the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Poland have found that horse milk can be used to make ice cream and yogurt. In their study, a team of food scientists created four variants of ice cream from horse milk and different types of bacteria.
Typically, ice cream is made by combining cow’s milk, cow’s cream, and other ingredients, resulting in a cold, sweet treat that people around the world enjoy. The team substituted cow’s milk with milk from a horse and determined that it was a viable ingredient for making ice cream better for the gut.
For centuries, many cultures have consumed horse milk, believing that it contains health benefits that science just hasn’t proven yet. Previously, research has shown that horse milk is more similar to human milk than cow’s milk. Additionally, people with allergies to cow’s milk can drink horse milk safely.
Horse milk also has enzymes and proteins that are not in cow’s milk, and it’s even lower in fat. That’s why scientists have been toying with the idea of using horse milk in some food products instead of cow’s milk.
The research team created four types of ice cream with horse milk. In the first batch, they added yogurt bacteria.
In the second batch, they added yogurt bacteria, inulin, and a probiotic. The third had a strain of bacteria called lacticaseibacillus rhamnosu, and the fourth had a different strain of bacteria called lactiplantibacillus plantarum.
After blending the ice creams, they subjected them to maturation processes for two hours at 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit and froze them in ice cream machines for an hour at 14 degrees. Finally, they hardened the ice creams for 24 hours at -0.4 degrees.
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A day after production, they performed a series of analyses on the ice creams, measuring their taste, flavor, consistency, appearance, creaminess, and more. They also tested fat, protein, and total solids content in the horse milk, along with titratable acidity expressed as lactic acid percentage.
Samples were given to 60 volunteers who reported that the ice creams were creamy, attractive in appearance, and had good taste and texture. They also claimed that the sample with yogurt bacteria and inulin had a slightly acidic flavor.
Testing showed that the ice creams were all similar in protein levels, melting characteristics, and overrun rates.
But when it came to acidity, they demonstrated more variation. The ice cream without inulin was the most acidic, while the sample with the bacteria lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus was the lowest in acidity.
The study was published in the open-access site PLOS One.
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