Soymilk is a high nutritional product. It has high level of protein and it is an excellent substitute for those people who are not able to drink cow milk due to lactose intolerance. However, soymilk has low content of calcium, an important mineral for the production and maintenance of the bones. Consequently, it is required the addition of such mineral into the soymilk, in order to improve its nutritional value. This study aimed at producing soymilk added with calcium, with adequate sensory quality. Sensory tests were carried out by a selected and trained panel from Embrapa Food Technology to identify the more suitable calcium salt, which would be added to the product. The following sensory attributes were evaluated by the panel: chalkiness, beany flavour, body, off - flavour and global quality. The losses during the soymilk processing were investigated. Tricalcium phosphate yielded the highest sensory quality product for the trained panel. The sample with calcium lactate presented the lowest loss of the mineral during the processing, followed by the calcium quelate. However, it has been noticed a phase separation in the former. Despite the soymilk added with calcium quelate had presented off-flavour, it was chosen because this form of calcium is described as ideal to enrich food, due to its high solubility and bioavailability. The off-flavour perceived in this beverage by the assessors, can be masked using natural flavourings, such as strawberry, chocolate, and vanilla.
soymilk; calcium fortification; sensory evaluation
