3.2. Processing characteristics of cream
The separated cream was pourable and homogenization increased the viscosity of the creams. A gel-like product with a viscosity of 513 MPa s was obtained upon direct homogenization of cream (50%TS) due to coalescence of the fat globules. This will present difficulties in processing. To overcome the excessive thickening of high solids cream on homogenization, citrate was added to the cream prior to homogenization. Addition of citrate at levels of 0.05, 0.1 and 0.2 mol added citrate/kg cream MSNF resulted in viscosities of 501, 457 and 317 MPa s respectively. Based on this, the level of 0.2 mol added citrate/kg cream MSNF was selected, as this level of added citrate enabled the preparation of a flowable
cream that could be easily mixed back into skim milk for standardization at the required fat:MSNF ratio for Powder 3.