Development of a ginger-based appetizer in the form of ready-to-reconstitute mix and ready-to-drink beverage.

Ginger is well known as gastric stimulant and the curd is consumed for its probiotic properties. Based on these two functional ingredients, an appetizer drink mix has been developed and optimized for its ingredient composition with the help of response surface methodology. The appetizer mix is cold water reconstitutable and provides 77 kCal per serving of 100 ml. The dry appetizer mix was modified by replacing the curd powder with fresh curd and was processed at 95 °C for 30 sec and aseptically packed as a ready-to-drink beverage. The product has a shelf-life of 6 months at ambient conditions in both forms. The product was very well accepted during field trials at army units.