Development of fermented ice cream in combination with Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG and persimmon puree and determination of physicochemical, rheological, textural and bioactive properties

This work aimed to produce six distinct ice creams: IC: control ice cream (without any probiotic or persimmon puree), ICP: ice cream with 20% persimmon puree, PIC: probiotic ice cream, FIC: fermented ice cream, ICFP: ice cream with 20% fermented persimmon puree, FICP: co-fermented ice cream with 20% persimmon puree. Lacticaseibacillus rhamnosus GG was used as the probiotic and fermentation agent. The addition of persimmon puree, probiotic inoculation and fermentation resulted in a reduction in the total dry matter content of the ice cream (P ≤ 0.05). Co-fermentation led to a notable reduction in the pH value, with the lowest pH observed in the FICP ice cream sample at 5.33 (P ≤ 0.05). The addition of persimmon puree resulted in a decrease in the L^⃰ values and an increase in both the a^⃰ and b^⃰ values of the ice cream samples. All ice cream samples exhibited pseudoplastic flow, and fermentation, persimmon puree addition and probiotic inoculation resulted in a reduction in K and hardness values. Co-fermentation had a protective effect on probiotic viability, with approximately 8.95 ± 0.01 log CFU g^-1 of probiotic viability detected in the FICP ice cream sample after 120 days of storage. Furthermore, co-fermentation markedly enhanced the bioactive characteristics of the samples, with the FICP sample exhibiting the highest TPC, CUPRAC, and DPPH values (242.57 ± 11.52mg GAE 100g^-1, 22.95 ± 0.29mg TE 100g^-1, and 48.02 ± 3.27%, respectively). The study demonstrated that persimmon can be employed in the production of ice cream, with the co-fermentation of the ice cream mix promoting the viability of probiotics and enhancing the bioactive characteristics of the ice cream samples.