The present study compared the texture, water holding capacity, and microstructure, as well as performed a particle and sensory evaluation, of soymilk-cow's milk gels induced by acidification of a commercial starter culture with the addition of glucono-δ-lactone (GDL). Texture analysis indicated that gels made with different amounts of GDL had diverse properties. The water holding capacity (WHC) results suggested that the gels had some WHC differences. In addition, the gels with less GDL did not form a network structure. The particle size distribution of the soymilk-cow's milk gels were approximately 3.5 μm. The sensory evaluation results were consistent with the texture properties and microstructure of the gels. This work clearly demonstrated that modulating the usage of GDL for casein and soy protein aggregation enabled the mixture of soy milk and cow's milk to obtain a new category of milk gel products.
Keywords: cow’s milk; gel properties; glucono-δ-lactone; sensory evaluation; soymilk.