The addition of malt to milk-based desserts: Influence on rheological properties and phenolic acid content

•We report the increased shear stress values of milk desserts with brewery malt.•The consistency index and thixotropic area values of milk desserts with malts were improved.•Hardness of desserts prepared using malts (3%) was improved.•We report the increase of the storage modulus of milk desserts containing malt.•The enrichment of milk desserts with phenolic acids was reported after malt addition.

The aim of this study was to enrich milk-based desserts with brewery malts without reducing the quality of the product. The addition of Carahell malt (3 g/100 g of dessert) increased shear stress values. The addition of Carahell or Carared malts (3 g/100 g of dessert) increased K and AT values of the desserts. The two malt types (at 1 g/100 g of dessert) had no effect on the hardness and adhesiveness of the products. The highest hardness was obtained with 3 g Carahell malt in 100 g of dessert. The highest storage modulus values at 20 °C, as well as the G′ and G″ values, were observed in desserts produced using Carahell malt (3 g/100 g). The addition of Carahell or Pale Wheat malts (3 g/100 g of dessert) introduced ferulic acid in free (0.06-0.09 μmol/100 g) as well as in free + bound forms (8.39-19.99 μmol/100 g). Also, p-coumaric acid in free (0.04-0.05 μmol/100 g) and free + bound (0.06-8.21 μmol/100 g) form and selected minor phenolic acids (syringic, p-OH-benzoic, chlorogenic, caffeic, sinapic and vanillic acids) were detected in the desserts. These results suggest the possibility of enriching milk-based desserts, which are low in plant-derived polyphenols, with very effective antioxidants from malts.