Effect of Ultrasonication on Cacao Particle Size, Color, Viscosity, and Sensory Properties of Cacao Flavored Milk

Despite the potential of high intensity ultrasound treatment on homogenization of milk and dairy based products, this treatment, under certain conditions, may lead to produce off-odors which can influence its applicability in the food industry. Therefore, in this research, cacao flavored milk (chocolate milk) was treated using ultrasound at various levels of power intensity, exposure time, and treatment temperature. A light microscope equipped by high resolution digital camera was used to evaluate the size distribution of cocoa particles. Finally, the color, flow and viscosity, and sensory characteristics of stabilized samples were determined. According to the findings, increase of power intensity and exposure time led to a significant increase on the degree of homogenization, and subsequently a paramount decrease on the size of cocoa particles. The cocoa particle diameters of chocolate milk which sonicated at 65 ºC were significantly smaller than the other temperatures. Moreover, the stabilized samples showed Newtonian behavior where the viscosity of control was lower than those treated by ultrasonic. With increase of ultrasound power intensity and exposure time, the viscosity of treated samples decreased. In terms of color, the sonicated samples showed higher L* values and the increase of power intensity and exposure time led to a significant increase on L* value. These samples gained lower sensorial scores than control mostly due to their ‘rubbery’ aroma. But, overall acceptance of treated samples had no significant difference against control. The ultrasound is an effective, rapid, and novel technique which can reduce the size of cocoa particles in order to produce stabilized chocolate milk where its color, sensory and rheological properties was very similar to one treated by conventional heat treatment. These findings can open new approaches in terms of its applicability in dairy industry.