Who doesn’t like ice cream? It’s a universally beloved treat, but recent research suggests that ice cream made from horse milk might offer surprising health benefits over the traditional cow milk version.
A team of food scientists at the West Pomeranian University of Technology in Poland has found that making ice cream with horse milk instead of cow milk is a viable food choice.
In their study, published on the open-access site PLOS ONE , the group created four ice cream varieties using horse milk and different types of bacteria.
Benefits of horse milk ice cream
Traditionally, ice cream is made by adding cow’s milk to cow’s cream along with other ingredients.
The result is a sweet treat popular around the globe. In this new study, the team found that replacing cow’s milk with milk from a horse and adding it to cow’s cream is a viable food choice.
Consumption of horse milk is not unheard of; many cultures worldwide have used it instead of cow’s milk for centuries, and many believe it has yet-to-be-proven health benefits.
Prior research has shown that it is closer in makeup to human milk than cow’s milk and that people with allergies to cow’s milk can safely drink horse milk.
Horse milk also contains beneficial enzymes and proteins not found in cow milk and is lower in fat.
Because of that, scientists have been considering the possibility of using horse milk instead of cow milk in various food products.
The test
In this new effort, the research team created four types of ice cream, all with horse milk instead of cow milk.
They added yogurt bacteria to the first batch and inulin, a probiotic, to the second.
In the third, they added a strain of bacteria called lacticaseibacillus rhamnosu, and in the fourth, they added a different strain of bacteria called lactiplantibacillus.
Testing of samples from each batch showed they were all similar regarding overrun and melting characteristics and protein levels.
According to 60 volunteers who sampled the ice cream and provided feedback, it was creamy, visually appealing, and had a good taste and texture.
However, the sample containing both yogurt bacteria and inulin was found to have a slightly acidic flavor.
Suitable for Western countries
Horse milk can be used to make yogurt and synbiotic ice cream . Because of its special composition, mare’s milk may be considered a valuable food that can help people stay healthy.
Mare’s milk ice creams can effectively deliver yogurt and probiotic bacteria L. rhamnosus LCR and L. plantarum LP.
After production, the level of probiotics exceeds the required therapeutic amount (6.0 log cfu/g).
Samples with inulin addition had more than 7.0 log cfu/g of viable live lactic acid bacteria (LAB). The bacteria count was significantly lower in the sample without inulin, above 6.0 log cfu/g. This shows that inulin positively impacts the survival of LAB in mare’s milk ice cream.
The type of ice cream affected the pH and titratable acidity of the different types of mare’s milk ice cream. All mare’s milk ice cream variations had low hardness (0.34–1.14 N) and high overrun (35.20–44.03%), contributing to their appealing taste and texture.
A high melting rate may be linked to ice cream’s low-fat content. Inulin altered the color parameters of frozen desserts made from mare’s milk.
All the ice creams had similar sensory characteristics, and they all had a high overall sensory quality.
The products scientists obtained are a good option for introducing mare’s milk to Western consumers who may not be familiar with this type of milk. Introducing new mare milk products has the potential to boost the production and processing of this milk type.
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