Effect of processed wheat germ on physicochemical and sensory characteristics of milk dessert

The main purpose of this study was to use wheat germ in production of milk dessert. Therefore, wheat germ was first heated at 150 °C for 15 min, then milled to obtain particle sizes of 125, 210 and 354 micrometers. Samples were made with 10% sugar, 2% gelatin and 88% low-fat milk (1.5% fat) and different levels of wheat germ (2.5, 5, 7.5 and 10%, w/w). Different characteristics of the fresh product and after storage for 15 days at 4 °C were determined. The results showed that with increasing the amount of wheat germ, dry materials of the samples increased while the pH decreased. Changes in the particle size of the samples had no effect on the dry materials. Textural evaluations showed that with increasing the germ level, particle size and storage time, hardness, cohesiveness, chewiness and gumminess, increased while elasticity decreased. Studying the internal structure of the desserts using scanning electron microscopy showed that the uniformity of the samples increased with increasing the germ content in dessert formulation. Moreover, with increasing the percentage and particle size of the germ, the darkness, redness and yellowness of the desserts increased. The results showed that the syneresis of desserts reduced with increasing the level of the germ, however, changes in particle size of the germ had no effect on this parameter. Sensory evaluation results concluded that the samples were prepared with maximum amount of 7.5% germ with particle size of 125 micrometer were the most acceptable samples.