Enhancing yogurt overall quality with enzymatically hydrolyzed cantaloupe rind powder: Effects of the supplement ratio on texture, rheology, stability, phenolic content, and antioxidant activity

Recently, there has been growing interest in incorporating dietary fiber into yogurt products, driven by its potential to improve the texture, rheology, and stability of yogurt, as well as the associated health benefits. This study specifically focused on the utilization of enzymatically hydrolyzed cantaloupe rind powder, which was the product of the enzymatic hydrolysis of the raw cantaloupe rind powder using cellulase and xylanase enzymes to increase its soluble dietary fiber content. The resulting hydrolyzed cantaloupe rind powder (referred to as HCRP) was added to a probiotic yogurt recipe at varying ratios of 0.5%, 1.0%, and 1.5% (w/w). Physicochemical, textural, and rheological properties, and syneresis of the control yogurt (without HCRP addition) and the HCRP-fortified yogurts at different addition ratios, were evaluated during a 15-day storage period at 4℃. Additionally, the color, total phenolic content (TPC), and antioxidant property of the yogurts were assessed at the end of the storage period. The results demonstrated that the addition of HCRP increased the hardness, viscosity, elasticity, and stability of the yogurt compared to the control yogurt. Specifically, the addition of 1.5% HCRP to yogurt resulted in a 1.6, 6.0, 1.9, 1.7, and 1.5 times increase in hardness, adhesiveness, apparent viscosity, storage modulus, and loss modulus compared to the control yogurt on day 15 of the storage period, respectively. Meanwhile, the syneresis was reduced by approximately 3 times in the 1.5% HCRP-added yogurt (5.60%) compared to the control yogurt (17.41%). The TPC of the yogurt also increased with higher levels of HCRP addition, reaching approximately 1.5 times that of the control yogurt at a 1.5% addition level. Furthermore, the antioxidant activity, as determined by the DPPH assay, was not detected in the control yogurt but exhibited a significant increase with higher concentrations of HCRP. This study highlights the potential of enzymatically hydrolyzed cantaloupe rind powder as a functional ingredient to enhance the quality attributes of yogurt, including its textural, rheological properties, stability, phenolic content, and antioxidant activity.