INCORPORATION of MILK PROTEINS HARVESTED BY DIRECT ACIDIFICATION INTO PROCESS CHEESE PRODUCTS

Abstract

ABSTRACTCasein curd, a 5:1 combination of casein curd and lactalbumin, traditional coprecipitate curd, and Hiddink's coprecipitate curd were each used to replace varying amounts of natural cheese protein in a process cheese product.Traditional coprecipitate was used successfully to replace up to 40%, and Hiddink's coprecipitate up to 50%, of natural cheese protein in an experimental product. At higher levels of replacement, the product mixtures would not become homogeneous. Casein, and the combination of casein and lactalbumin, were used to replace up to 80% of natural cheese protein in an experimental product.Experimental products were compared rheologically to a group of similar use commercial products. Stress‐strain, stress relaxation, and creep behavior indicated that the experimental products were generally more rigid than the commercial products. the meltability of all the experimental products was similar to that of the commercial products.