TY - EJOU AU - T1 - Preservative Activity of Ethanolic Extract of Ginger in Wara - A West African Traditional Soft (Unripened) Cheese T2 - Journal of Food Technology Research PY - 2014 VL - 1 IS - 1 SN - 2312-3796 AB - The effect of ethanolic extract of ginger (Zingiber officinale) on sensory and storage qualities of wara was evaluated. Pasteurized fresh milk samples were used to prepare wara and; 1.6%, 2.4%, 3.2% and 0% ginger extracts (samples A, B, C and D respectively) were incorporated into the samples separately. The wara samples were then fried in hot palm oil as it is done traditionally and organoleptic properties of the samples were determined by a taste panelist. Also physico-chemical and microbiological changes during six (6) days storage at ambient tropical temperature (30 ± 2oC) were determined. The samples (A, B and C) containing ginger were rated better than the control sample (D). Sample C had the highest overall acceptability of 4.0 while sample D had the least (2.8). During storage a significant decrease (P≤0.05) in pH with a corresponding increase in titratable acidity (TA) was recorded for the wara samples. The pH ranged between 4.17 and 6.55 while the TA ranged between 0.018 and 0.099 (mg/100g).The peroxide values (POV) of sample D increased at a faster rate than samples A, B and C. The POV for sample D after 3 days of storage was 34.15 meq/kg while that of sample C was 25.33 meq/kg at the end of 6 days storage. Although there was general increase in the microbial loads (MLs) of all the samples, the MLs of samples A, B and C were significantly lower than that of sample D. Moreover samples A and B got spoilt by day 4 of storage; sample D by day 3 while sample C was still in good condition at the end of 6 days storage. This study therefore showed that incorporation of 3.2% ethanolic ginger extract significantly improved acceptability of wara and increased the shelf life of the product by 3 days. KW - DO - 10.18488/journal.58/2014.1.1/58.1.45.51