ABSTRACT
Yogurt is one of the popular dairy products produced by the bacterial fermentation of milk. Researches proved that fruit enriched Rice-based yogurt is good alternative for the traditional yogurt. Hence, four different combinations of rice-based yogurt were prepared by adding rice slurry. Rice-based yogurt containing 25% milk and 75% rice slurry scored best in microbial analysis. Count of both Streptococcus salivarius ssp. thermophilus and Lactobacillus delbrueckii ssp. bulgaricus were higher in this combination but organoleptic quality was poor. The one with 75% milk and 25% slurry scored best in organoleptic analysis as it scored high in all the characters under study. Hence the combination with 75% milk and 25% slurry was selected and was enriched with the fruit pulps of Annona, Papaya and Guava. The one with 20% Annona fruit pulp and one with 5% Papaya fruit pulp were selected as the best combinations as they got the highest overall acceptability score and the count of both the bacteria were higher in these combinations, proved that fruit enrichment doesn't affect bacteria in yogurt. Cost analysis proved that collection of fruits from wild will help to reduce the price of the yogurt. Thus, Rice-based Probiotic Yogurt with 75% milk and 25% rice slurry with 20% Annona fruit pulp and one with 5% Papaya fruit pulp were developed as best combinations and can replace normal yogurts currently available in the market with low cost.