Improvement of storage stability and foaming properties of cream by addition of carrageenan and milk constituents

The increasing automation in the dairy industry and the longer guaranteed shelf life of the packed products of cream lead to a loss in the quality of liquid and whipped cream associated with the formation of irreversible plugs, too long whipping times and high degrees of liquid separation of the whipped product. In test series 0.015% carrageenan, 0.25% protein-fat as the dry matter (whey proteins with high-melting milk fat fractions) or a combination of both were added to homogenized and unhomogenized, pasteurized or ultra-high temperature treated (UHT) cream from the winter and summer feeding period (fat content: 30%). The creaming behaviour after storage at 7 or 20 degrees C was characterized by determining the fat content in different layers of a cream package. In cream samples without additives unstirrable layers had been formed after 2-7 weeks, in particular during the long storage times of UHT cream without cooling. A desired (i.e. low) degree of creaming of the liquid cream as well as little separation in the whipped product could be achieved for all samples only by means of a combination of carrageenan and protein-fat powder. Of the rather varying carrageenan fractions examined, a combination of similar proportions of kappa- and iota-carrageenan has proved to be particularly effective without excessively increasing viscosity.