Functional Dairy Beverages Production Using Certain Dairy By-Products Enriched With Pumpkin (Cucurbita Maxima L.) Pulp

Abstract

The dairy industry has huge amounts of by-products, and the indiscriminate disposal can lead to significant environmental pollution. However, it contains many valuable nutritional compounds that can be recycled. Pumpkin pulp is a plant with good functional properties due to its high content of antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and other active ingredients that can boost immunity and enhance human health. The study aims to create new functional beverages prepared from some by-products such as sweet buttermilk, sweet whey, and milk permeate enhanced with pumpkin pulp (Cucurbita maxima L.). The natural by-product was prepared by flavoring the different by-products with 50 % pumpkin pulp, 4 % sugar, and 0.2 % carboxymethyl cellulose and stored at 4±1ºC for 30 days. Chemical analysis, sensory evaluation, antioxidant activity, and microbiological assessment were determined. The findings revealed that the by-products supplemented with pumpkin pulp had a significant level of total carbohydrates, fibers, total phenolic components, antioxidant activity, vitamins C, and mineral content. The bacterial total count was reduced. Sensory evaluation indicated that functional beverages containing pumpkin pulp demonstrated superior sensory properties when compared to control treatments. We recommend fortifying the by-products with pumpkin pulp due to its high nutritional value and sensory properties.