Effect of the Addition of Selected Herbal Extracts on the Quality Characteristics of Flavored Cream and Butter.

Herbs have been used for centuries in order to enrich food as preservatives, flavorings, and medicinal agents. The aim of this work was to study the effect of the addition of selected herbal extracts (dried leaves of Thymus vulgaris L., Origanum vulgare L., Satureja hortensis L., Rosmarinus officinalis L., and Ocimum basilicum L.) on selected parameters of fermented flavored cream (counts of starter culture bacteria and pH value) and the resulting flavored butter (water content, water distribution, butter plasma pH, butter fat acidity, and oxidative stability), preceded by a study of the activity of the herbal extracts against starter lactic acid bacteria determined using the well diffusion method. The extracts did not inhibit the starter lactic acid bacteria at a fixed level. The presence of the herbal extracts contributed to a shorter fermentation course and influenced the counts of starter culture bacteria during fermentation and refrigerated storage (at 5 °C) for 21 days. The extract additives did not affect the water content or the degree of its dispersion, the butter plasma pH, or the butter fat acidity. The positive effect of the rosemary and thyme extract addition was only noted when analyzing the oxidative stability of the milk fat of the butter.