Evaluation of sensory and microbiological quality of tigernut milk drink sweentened with date palm fruit

This study investigated sensory properties and microbiological quality of tigernut milk drink sweetened with date palm fruit. Six samples of the drink were prepared in various ratios, tigernut milk control (TMC 100%), date palm slurry control (DSC 100%) tigernut milk and date slurry (TMD1 90:10, TMD2 80:20, TMD3 70:30, and TMD4 60:40) respectively. The samples were pasteurized at 72°C for five minutes. The tiger nut milk were evaluated using 15- member semi-trained panelists on a 9-point hedonic scale and statistical analysis were carried out on their responses. The result for sensory evaluation revealed that there was significant difference (P < 0.05) among all the samples analyzed in terms of taste, aroma, colour, flavor and general acceptability. However, sample TMD4 was the most preferred in terms of all the parameters assessed which had a range from (6.1-7.5). Standard microbiological methods were used to isolate, characterize and identify microbial isolates. The result obtained for microbial load for total aerobic plate count, coliforms and fungi ranged from 1.90x103–1.26x106, 3.20x103 –1.6x106, and 2.8x103–7.25x105 cfu/ml respectively. The result for microbial flora revealed the following species of microorganisms; E. coli (21%), Staphylococcus aureus (16%), Proteus vulgaris (19%), Bacilli (16%), Salmonella typhi (6%), and Streptoccoccus (8%). The study concluded that milk from tigernut and date palm fruit sources could serve as an alternative for diary milk, and that the date palm demonstrated the potential of being used as an alternative sweetener for tigernut milk drink production based on the general acceptability of the product.