Quality and consumer's acceptability of plain and flavored milk drinks blended from coconut milk and skimmilk powder

Highly acceptable and equally nutritious fat-standardized milk drinks flavored with cocoa, vanilla and strawberry extracts, and mango and papaya purees were developed from a comparatively cheaper blend of reconstituted skimmilk (RSM), water extracted coconut milk (CNM) and sugar. The dairy drinks were analyzed for composition, microbiological quality, sensory quality, and consumer's acceptability in comparison with a control cow's milk. With a vegetable fat content of about 2.5% only, the blended milk drinks have a gross composition equivalent to or even slightly better than that of fresh cow's milk standardized to 2.5% butter fat. Force from any added emulsifier or stabilizer, the blended milk drinks flavored with cocoa, vanilla and strawberry contain 3.38-3.69% total protein, 0.76-0.84% ash and 16.56-17.79% total solids. Formulated from 10% RSH instead of 12% RSM used in the other flavored milks, the mango and papaya-flavored blended milk drinks have 13.62-14.25% total solids, 2.50-2.61% protein, and 0.53-0.64% ash. All milk drinks have a good microbiological quality. Sensory evaluation by a trained panel, in general, did not show significant differences between the flavored blended milk drinks and their respective control, although the former obtained lower scores particularly for taste and smell. The formulated fat-standardized plain drinks has a mild coconut flavor and obtained an acceptability of 81.09% among school children and 91.12% among adult consumers. When flavored, its palatability tremendously improved, thus obtaining an acceptability that ranged from 92.22% to 98.23% among children and adults. These flavored milk drinks can therefore be tapped as cheaper but nutritious alternative to fresh milk to improve nutrition among school children in the rural areas.