Composition and Quality of Concentrated Yoghurt (Labneh) Supplemented with Date Fruits

Date fruits of two different cultivars were prepared in dried form and added to labneh in two levels of 5 % and 10 % (w/w) from varieties of Malkabi (M) and Gondaila (G) to give treatments of M5, M10, G5 and G10 respectively, whereas the control (C) was prepared without adding date powder (DP). Analysis of the fresh labneh revealed an increase (P≤0.05) in its contents of total solids, ash and carbohydrate and decrease in fat, FDM and protein contents due to the use of DP. The recorded changes were proportional with the amount of DP added. The control had the highest acidity (1.47%) and the lowest pH values (4.35), while the applied treatments had a significant impact on decreasing acidity, but the differences in pH were insignificant. The used dates significantly increased Ca, P and Mg contents, whereas the highest corresponding values were 102.56, 137.20 and 21.88 mg/100g labneh treated with Gondaila variety at level of 10% DP. The calculated caloric values expressed as KJ/Kg were 738.08, 764.75, 794.55, 758.97 and 778.03 for the control and labneh from M5, M10, G5 and G10 respectively. Organoleptically, the control had the highest scores for appearance, whereas the DP- treated samples ranked the highest scores for flavour. No significant differences were recorded for scores given for consistency of all treated and untreated samples.