154 Chapter 6
full - cream milk are made by dispersion of a
skim milk powder and full - cream milk
powder in water. Depending on the shelf - life
required, the reconstituted milk may be pas-
teurized or given a high - heat treatment for
sterilization. When several milk ingredients
are mixed for the production of a dairy
product, this process is termed recombining.
In this case, usually the skim milk powder
ingredient is reconstituted in water and com-
bined with anhydrous milk fat, homogenized,
and heat treated.
Typical recombined milk products include
recombined UHT single - strength milk (e.g.,
12% total solids, 9% skim milk solids : 3.5%
fat), recombined retort - sterilized evaporated
milk (e.g. 26% total solids, 18% skim milk
solids : 8% fat), and recombined sweetened
condensed milk (e.g., 74% total solids, 20%
skim milk solids : 8% fat : 46% sucrose).
Other recombined dairy products include
recombined cheese, cultured milk products
(e.g., labneh, yogurt), cream, and ice - cream
(Jensen, 1990 ). When the milk fat component
in a recombined dairy product is substituted
with a non - dairy fat (e.g., canola oil, palm
oil), the resultant product is called a fi lled
dairy product.
Milk powders can now be tailored to suit
a vast range of applications for the manufac-
Figure 6.4. The recombination of milk process.
ture of dairy products because milk powder
processes can manipulate composition, phys-
ical, and functional characteristics. However,
the heat treatment given during skim milk
powder manufacture remains the dominant
factor for selection of powder for a particular
end use in a manufactured recombined dairy
product (Table 6.3 ). Nevertheless, other char-
acteristics (e.g., quality of the powder) also
need to be considered.Applications in Non - dairy Products
A growing number of non - dairy products are
manufactured using milk powders as an
ingredient. Milk powders are found in such
products as meat, bakery, confectionery,
chocolate, sauces, and desserts. Their func-
tional characteristics, essential in many
applications, include browning and fl avor
development, water binding, emulsifi cation,
viscosity modifi cation, and texture. The
inherent properties of milk powders may
be used as a guide to powder selection for
specifi c end uses (Table 6.3 ). However, the
functionality of a powder in the fi nal appli-
cation depends on the ingredients in the
food formulation and the processing vari-
ables used in the manufacture of the end food
product.