Investigating the Effects of High-Fat, Lactose Free, and Chocolate Dairy Products on

Yogurt Consistency
Michael Crain-Zamora, Courtney Crain-Zamora
Department of Chemistry, Brigham Young University Idaho, Rexburg, Idaho 83460

ABSTRACT: A more health conscious society has influenced

many to focus on low-fat yogurt recipes. The shift to low-fat
yogurt has also created a need to add thickening agents to the
yogurt, thereby maintaining its characteristic thick and creamy
consistency. However, high-fat yogurt recipes have yet to be
explored, and their consistencies have yet to be compared. In
this study, half and half, whipping cream, chocolate milk, and
lactose milk were each made into yogurt, and were tested for
natural viscosity by comparing the distance traveled on an
inclined board in 90 s. Half and half proved to make the most
viscous yogurt, traveling an average distance of 4.4 cm, while
lactose free milk yielded the least viscous yogurt at 15.1 cm.
Interestingly, chocolate whole milk was thinner than regular
whole milk, each traveling 11 and 6.3 cm respectively.
INTRODUCTION
Humanity has been making yogurt for centuries. However, it was
not until the 1950s that yogurt became popular in the United
States.1 Rising demands for healthy foods lead to the introduction
of probiotic cultures to manufactured yogurt, thus giving the average consumer easy access to safe, live strains of yogurt bacteria.2
This also led to production of low-fat yogurts, which mask a thinner consistency with thickening agents such as agar.3 As a result
of easy access to bacterial strains and thickening agents, many
homemade yogurt recipes have been developed that cater to the
health-conscious consumer.
In todays health-conscious society, more effort has been put
into the production of low-fat yogurt. Several recipes were consulted and tend to suggest that whole milk produces the thickest
natural yogurt, while mention of yogurts made from high-fat dairy
products was difficult to find. Other dairy products such as lactose free milk and chocolate milk are also rare in yogurt recipes.
The purpose of this work is to examine the effects of high-fat
and other dairy products on yogurt consistency. A basic viscosity
test is used to compare consistencies of yogurt made from high-fat
dairy products, lactose free milk, and chocolate milk.

METHODS
Bacterial Strains
Bacteria Streptococcus thermophilus, Bifidobacterium lactis, Lactobacillus acidophilus, L. casei, L. rhamnosus, L. lactis, L. bulgaricus were obtained from Traditional Plain Greek Gods Greek
Style Yogurt (The Hain Celestial Group, Inc., Lake Success, NY),
and used as yogurt starter cultures in all samples. Yogurt was
refrigerated until use in yogurt culturing.
Materials
Dairy products cultured into yogurt included: vitamin D whole
milk (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, AR), lactose free whole

vitamin D milk (Western Family Foods, Inc., Portland, OR),

whipping cream (Western Family Foods, Inc., Portland, OR), half
and half (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, AR), and TruMoo
chocolate vitamin D whole milk (Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., Bentonville, AR). All dairy products were refrigerated until used to
make yogurt samples.
Heating and Incubating Conditions
Dairy products were heated on the medium setting of a Frigidaire
FFEF3011LB 4.8 cu. ft. Electric Range (Frigidaire, Charlotte,
NC). Yogurt sample incubation was done in a warm water bath
maintained at 43-55 oC using a Crock-Pot model SCR450-HX
0.95 L slow cooker (Sunbeam Products, Inc., Boca Raton, Florida).
Preparation of Dairy Products for Culturing
350 mL of a dairy product was poured into a small saucepan and
heated with constant stirring to just under boiling temperature (95
C). The heated product was transferred to a glass container to
cool to 46 C at room temperature before inoculation by a mixture
of 110 mL of cooled product and 30 mL of yogurt. The mixed
product was incubated for 6 h, refrigerated for 4 h, drained of
clear liquid, and whisked until smooth. A sour odor, similar to
that of commercially available Greek yogurt, denoted a successful
batch that was ready for viscosity testing.

RESULTS
Identification
Identification of successful bacteria growth in dairy samples was
done through an odor test. If the end product of incubation had an
odor similar to the starting yogurt sample, bacteria had propagated
to the point of thickening the yogurt. Interestingly, the lactose
free milk was the only sample to have almost no odor.
Viscosity Testing
Dairy
Product
half and
half
whipping
cream
normal
whole
milk
chocolate
whole
milk
lactose
free milk

Test 1
(cm)

Test 2
(cm)

Test 3
(cm)

Test 4
(cm)

Average
(cm)

4.3

4.5

4.5

4.4

4.4

5.8

5.9

5.9

6.3

6.4

6.4

6.2

6.3

10.8

11

11.2

11.1

11

15

15.5

15.3

14.7

15.1

Table 1. Distance traveled by yogurts (cm) over the span of 90 s,

and their average distances. Yogurts are ordered in levels of viscosity with the highest on top and lowest on bottom.
Differences in the viscosity of yogurts produced by each dairy
product are presented in Table 1. Originally, it was thought that
the chocolate milk would have produce one of two results. The
first being yogurt of similar viscosity to that of normal whole
milk, it having the same fat content, and the second being yogurt
of greater viscosity. More viscous yogurt was hypothesized, as it
was thought that the higher sugar content of chocolate milk would
lead to better bacterial growth, and an increase in fermentation.
Method Validation
Accuracy and reproducibility of the unexpected result was confirmed by analyzing each yogurt sample four times. Standard
deviation of the data for half and half, whipping cream, and normal whole milk is 10%. For Chocolate milk it is 17% and lactose
free milk is 35%. This suggests data is 90% reproducible for the
first three dairy products mentioned, and the need for further testing of chocolate and lactose free milk.

milk and half cream provides ample amounts of fat, casein, and
lactose.
Table 1 also suggests that lactose free milk, which produced
the thinnest yogurt, may be due to a lack of bacterial activity in
the sample. This is supported by the observation that lactose free
yogurt lacked the fermentation scent present in other samples.
This further suggests that low lactose content leads to thinner
yogurt.
Originally it was thought that chocolate whole milk would
produce a thicker yogurt than normal whole milk as its higher
sugar content would allow bacteria increased propagation. This
hypothesis was based on evidence that bacteria used, such as L.
acidophilus, can use a wide variety of sugar in lactic acid fermentation.6 Table 1 however suggested that chocolate whole milk has
a significantly thinner consistency compared to regular whole
milk. Further research would be required in order to determine if
the yogurt bacteria effectively use sugars other than lactose.
In conclusion, the data indicates half and half as the key ingredient to thick home made yogurt without the use of other
thickening agents.

REFERENCES

DISCUSSION
In this work, five common dairy products were cultured into yogurt and the relative thicknesses were tested. Table 1 suggests that
half and half produces the thickest yogurt, while its higher-fat
counterpart, whipping cream, is similar in thickness to yogurt
made from normal whole milk. A likely reason is that whipping
cream has a lower lactose and casein content, reducing its ability
to curdle.5 Generally, bacteria uses lactose to create lactic acid,
causing casein to denature and clump.6 This gives yogurt its characteristic consistency. A possible explanation for half and half
being the thickest of the yogurts is that the mixture of half whole

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2. Pszczola, D. E. Food Technol. 2008, 62, 4558.
3. Davidson, A. In The Oxford Companion to Food, 3rd ed.;
Vannithone, S. Ed.; Oxford University Press: New York,
2014.
4. Savaiano, D. A. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 2014, 99, 12515.
5. McGee, H. In On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore
of the Kitchen, 1st ed.; Simon & Schuster: USA, 2004.
6. Microbe Wiki. https://microbewiki.kenyon.edu/index.php/
Lactobacillus_acidophilus (accessed March 22, 2016)

The Journal of Kitchen Chemistry 2013, 1