Textural and rheological characterisation of yoghurts produced with cultures isolated from traditional back-slopped yoghurts

Cultures isolated from artisanal yoghurts were evaluated for yoghurt production with preserved traditional properties. In this context, the textural, microbiological, physicochemical properties, and acidification kinetics of experimental yoghurt samples were evaluated and compared with yoghurts produced from commercial starter cultures for a 28-day cold storage period. All yoghurt samples completed the fermentation at a similar time. However, the B1 and K2 isolates had higher viable cell performance during the storage period, and their yoghurts had counts of Lactobacillus bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus similar to those of control yoghurt samples. Also, at the end of the storage, yoghurts produced from the new isolates had higher complex modulus (G∗) than the control, except K1 + B1 yoghurts. This study demonstrated that the best results related to these parameters were obtained in yoghurts of isolates B1 and K2, and they can be recommended as potential yoghurt starters.