On Food and Cooking

causes a proportional increase in their surface
area, which the original globule membranes
are insufficient to cover. The naked fat
surface attracts casein particles, which stick
and create an artificial coat (nearly a third of
the milk’s casein ends up on the globules).
The casein particles both weigh the fat
globules down and interfere with their usual
clumping: and so the fat remains evenly
dispersed in the milk. Milk is always
pasteurized just before or simultaneously with
homogenization to prevent its enzymes from
attacking the momentarily unprotected fat
globules and producing rancid flavors.
Homogenization affects milk’s flavor and
appearance. Though it makes milk taste
blander — probably because flavor molecules
get stuck to the new fat-globule surfaces — it
also makes it more resistant to developing
most off-flavors. Homogenized milk feels
creamier in the mouth thanks to its increased
population (around sixty-fold) of fat globules,