This study aimed to select the proportion of dairy milk and coconut milk for the development of a value-added tender coconut-based ice cream with improved sensory and physicochemical properties with functional potential. Ice cream mixes were formulated by blending standardized mixed milk (4.50% fat, 8.50% SNF) with coconut milk in three proportions (3:2, 1:1, and 2:3 w/w), while maintaining constant levels of milk fat (10.50%), milk solids-not-fat (12.00%), sucrose (15.00%), stabilizer (0.20%), and emulsifier (0.15%). The resultant ice creams were evaluated for proximate composition, pH, viscosity, hardness, melting rate, overrun, total phenolic content (TPC), and sensory characteristics. Increasing the proportion of coconut milk significantly ( p < 0.05) increased total fat, total solids (TS), mix viscosity, hardness, melting resistance, and TPC, while reducing overrun. Sensory evaluation revealed that ice cream prepared using an equal proportion of milk and coconut milk (1:1, w/w) achieved the highest flavour score and total sensory score (93.60/100), reflecting optimal flavour balance, desirable body and texture, and improved melting quality. This optimized formulation exhibited a compositional profile (~ 19.0% total fat, 4.30% protein, 49.02% TS) and enhanced TPC value (0.25 mg GAE g −1 ). Overall, the study demonstrates that a 1:1 dairy milk–coconut milk blend is optimal for producing an acceptable quality hybrid ice cream, offering a scientifically validated approach for developing functional dairy–plant frozen desserts.
Suvera et al. (Fri,) studied this question.