‘Bhapa dahi’ meaning steamed dahi/yogurt, is a popular Bengali fermented dairy based delicacy popular in West Bengal. Spices and their extract have been used as food additives to improve the flavor, aroma and even extend the shelf-life of food. Besides these, the spice extract might confer antimicrobial properties and exert therapeutic virtues too. Three types of spice essential oils viz. cinnamon, clove and cumin were tried out as adjunct flavour in mango flavoured Bhapa dahi and its influence on the microbial quality with emphasis on Lactic Acid Bacteria (LAB) count and shelf-life of product was studied. It is recommended to utilize clove oil at level of 0.04 % by weight of the base mix (viz., chakka and sweetened condensed milk) to prepare mango flavoured Bhapa dahi. Clove oil was superior over cinnamon (@ 0.02 % by weight) and cumin oil (@ 0.02 % by weight) as flavour adjunct in mango flavoured Bhapa dahi. Use of such additive not only enhanced the sensory score of the fermented product, but also enhanced its shelf-life by about 14 days (vs. control product) when packaged in polypropylene pack and stored under refrigerated condition; the growth of LAB was somewhat restricted in the fermented product during refrigerated storage.

One of the less known Pasta filata cheese in Indian context is Burrata cheese, an Italian origin cheese popular in Southern Italy. Burrata is preferably consumed with olive oil and serves as an alternative to Caprese salad. This cheese variety is usually made from cow milk and are produced in two ways viz., artisanal method and industrial method. The product consists of a double structure viz., composed of a ‘bag’ made of mozzarella paste and an inner core ‘stracciatella’; the latter is a blend of double cream and Mozzarella cheese strips. The cheese is characterized by being rindless, milky white with a smooth, shiny surface made up of fibrous elastic structure. The cheese is spherical, characterized by a head and a short neck and is rich in milk fat (60.0 % fat-on-dry matter). The high moisture (aw 0.95 to 0.97) and pH (6.1-6.2) favours microbial growth restricting its shelf life, even under refrigerated conditions. Modified atmospheric packaging has enabled shelf life extension of cheese. Psychrotrophic microorganisms such as Pseudomonas and Enterobacteriaceae species are responsible for the spoilage of burrata cheese. Efforts have been underway to produce reduced-fat Burrata cheese to obviate the high calorie content and appropriate means to extend its shelf life.

Complexing curcumin with β-cyclodextrin increases water solubility and thus functional activity of curcumin. However, application of this complex in traditional fermented products has rarely been explored for curcumin delivery. The present study was undertaken to enhance the curcumin supplementation in lassi by using β-cyclodextrin. Starter culture’s activity was not affected by curcumin addition. β-cyclodextrin addition increased curcumin retention in lassi from 50 to 90%. Curcumin (@ 250 ppm) and its conjugation with β-cyclodextrin at 1:4 ratio was found optimum for supplementation in lassi. The developed product had a shelf-life of 20 days at 4±1 °C and 90-95 % RH, when packaged in low density polyethylene pouches or in poly ethylene terephthalate bottles, whereas the control lassi had storage stability of 12 days.