*2.6. Rheological Properties*

The rheological behavior of yoghurt samples was determined using a rotational viscosimeter (RC1 Rheometer, Rheotec Meßtechnic GmbH, Raderburg, Germany) coupled with a circulating cooling bath (RE312, Lauda GmbH, Lauda-Königshofen, Germany). The measurements were carried out at 10 ◦C using a MS-CC48 DIN/FTK cylinder. 75 mL of yoghurt sample were transferred to the measuring cup and preconditioned at 10 ◦C for 1 h prior to analysis. Shear rate sweeps from 5 to 200 s−<sup>1</sup> followed by constant shear rate step at 200 s−<sup>1</sup> were applied. The duration of the shear stress sweep was 180 s. To describe the rheological behavior of the samples, the shear stress – shear rate data were fitted to the Ostwald–de Waale model:

$$
\sigma = \mathbb{K} \cdot \boldsymbol{\gamma}^n \tag{2}
$$

where, <sup>σ</sup> is the shear stress (Pa·s), <sup>γ</sup> is the shear rate (s<sup>−</sup>1), *<sup>K</sup>* is the consistency index (Pa·sn) and *<sup>n</sup>* is the flow behavior index. The apparent viscosity (η, Pa·s) of the samples was calculated at a shear rate of 50 s<sup>−</sup>1, representing the sensing shear rate in the mouth of low viscosity foods [20].
