(1) Background: The demand for healthy and nutritious food is growing worldwide. Fermented dairy products are highly valued by consumers for their health benefits. Kefir is a fermented dairy product that brings many benefits to the consumer due to its antioxidant, anticancer, antidiabetic, antihypertensive and antimicrobial properties. Extracts from various plants in the form of volatile oils have a beneficial efct on consumer health. their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities were demonstrated. (2) Methods: In the present study, the main purpose was to obtain a fermented dairy product with a high nutritional value; therefore, kefir, enriched with three types of volatile oils, namely, volatile mint oil, volatile fennel oil and volatile lavender oil, was made. The kefir samples obtained were sensory and texturally analyzed. The beneficial effect on health must also be studied in terms of the acceptability of these products by consumers from a sensory point of view. A non-numerical method based on several multi-personal approval criteria was used to interpret the results obtained in the sensory analysis. In the textural analysis, the consistency, cohesiveness and firmness of the kefir samples were analyzed. (3) Results: The samples enriched with volatile oils obtained superior results compared to the control sample in both conducted examinations. Kefir samples with volatile oils retained their sensory and textural characteristics for a longer time during storage. (4) Conclusions: The volatile oils added to kefir positively influenced the sensory and textural characteristics of the finished product.
Temporal dynamics of probiotic Lacticaseibacillus casei and rhamnosus abundance in a fermented dairy product evaluated using a combination of cultivation-dependent and -independent methods
