Acta Scientiarum Polonorum Technologia Alimentaria

Background. Tiger nut milk is an underused food product in Europe, Africa, and a number of developing countries. This milk has been suggested as a substitute for bovine milk to reduce malnutrition in poor parts of the world. Hence, this study aimed to prepare tiger nut tuber milk using milk permeate or cheese whey as an extraction medium. A novel probiotic fermented tiger nut milk was also developed using probiotic culture of Lactobacillus helveticus Lh-B02.
Materials and methods. The physico-chemical, color, sensory, and microbiological properties of the tiger nut milk were determined.
Results. Our results showed that substituting water for permeate or whey led to an enhancement of the nutritional, physico-chemical, and viscosity properties of tiger nut milk. No differences were observed in the sensory properties between water-tiger nut milk and permeate- or whey-tiger nut milk. As for fermentation of tiger nut milk, fermented permeate- and whey-tiger nut milk had the highest values of viscosity and L. helveticus Lh-B02 count. Also, the color parameters (a*, b*, and L*) were enhanced in fermented permeate- and whey-tiger nut milk. Regarding the sensory properties, all fermented tiger nut milk types were acceptable, and the panelists preferred the flavor of fermented whey-tiger nut milk. During cold storage (20 days), fermented  water-tiger nut milk exhibited the lowest values of chroma, L. helveticus Lh-B02 count, and appearance compared to other fermented tiger nut milk types. The storage period revealed a negative effect on the viscosity and a positive effect on the luminosity values (L*) of all fermented tiger nut milk types.
Conclusion. It is possible to substitute water with milk permeate or cheese whey to prepare tiger nut tuber milk with high nutritional and organoleptic properties.