Utilizing tiger nut milk to make a novel, healthy, functional ice milk

The study aimed to examine the effect of tiger nut milk on the quality characteristics of ice milk when fresh skim milk was partially replaced. At levels of substitution of 0, 25, 50, 75, and 100 %, the chemical and physical composition of the samples, the antioxidant and total phenolic content, the cytotoxic activity, the sensory properties, and the microstructure were evaluated. The results indicated that increasing the substitution levels of fresh skim milk for tiger nut milk significantly increased fat, fiber, antioxidant, total phenolic content, and hardness of the ice milk treatments (P < 0.05), whereas their ash content, overrun and viscosity decreased. Furthermore, total solids, protein concentrations, or pH values between all treatments did not have significant effects (P > 0.05). The IM1 treatment (ice milk without tiger nut milk) melted slower than the other treatments. Additionally, increasing the substitution levels of fresh skim milk for tiger nut milk decreased CaCo-2 cell viability (colorectal cancer cells). Furthermore, sensory properties were significantly affected (P < 0.05) when fresh skim milk was replaced with tiger nut milk. The compact structure can be observed in the images of the treatments IM2 (75 % cow's skim milk +25 % tiger nut milk), IM3 (50 % cow's skim milk +50 % tiger nut milk), IM4 (25 % cow's skim milk +75 % tiger nut milk), and IM5 (100 % tiger nut milk), which were made with different ratios of tiger milk using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). On the other hand, the IM1 treatment image displays larger voids. Therefore, tiger nut milk offers a safe, plant-based alternative to cow's skim milk, provides a source of total phenolics and a natural antioxidant to make functional ice milk with good sensory acceptance, and can be used alongside colon anticancer therapy.