488 Chapter 18
or butter along with sweet or acid whey
solids, buttermilk or skim milk solids, or veg-
etable oil. Whey powder possesses a clean
and mild fl avor of its own and lends itself
very well to carrying cheese, oleoresin, and
other savory fl avors. These coat snacks uni-
formly to give them more volume and a
desirable appearance. During baking, the
components of dairy ingredients (NFDM,
buttermilk solids, whey solids) interact with
snack constituents to elaborate a battery of
desirable fl avors as well. The coating modi-
fi es the texture of snacks to give them
smoother mouth feel. Whey proteins, prone
to heat - setting on baking, provide structure
to snacks.
Most salty snacks contain about 2%
sodium chloride (Kuntz, 1996 ). For topical
application, the salt size and form are impor-
tant in dispersibility of the seasoning on the
surface of the snack. Larger salt crystals dis-
solve slowly during eating the snack and
provide a sharper lingering salt taste, as com-
pared with small crystals. Appearance and
adhesion properties also are infl uenced by the
salt crystal size. Flavor enhancers such as
monosodium glutamate and autolyzed yeast
extract may be used as ingredients of cheese
powder. Corn syrup solids (or maltodextrins)
are used as carriers and impart fl owability
attributes.
Cheese powders with characteristic cheese
fl avor (cheddar, Romano, mozzarella, pro-
cessed, blue, and parmesan) may be supple-
mented with stronger spice fl avor to
complement the fl avor and appearance of the
base. Certain herbs and spices lend them-
selves to be co - dried with the cheese slurry.
Whenever there is loss or change in the char-
acter of the seasoning during drying, it is
more appropriate to dry blend them with
cheese powder.
Numerous fl avor houses offer a variety of
cheese seasonings compatible with various
snack types; the formulation of seasonings is
mostly proprietary. As an example, a typical
specifi cation for cheese powder includesand up to 50% of cheese seasonings (Johnson,
2000 ).
Cheese powders for snacks normally are
developed specifi cally to satisfy the needs of
snack manufacturers, and the custom design
includes the spectrum of fl avor notes.
Frequently, salt is added to provide fl avor and
to act as a carrier of other fl avors. It also
functions as a fl avor enhancer and modifi er.
The original dried cheese blends were
essentially dehydrated cheese manufactured
by spray drying cheese slurry. Cheese sea-
soning may contain different levels of cheese.
Cheese powders with high levels of cheese
may contain greater than 90% cheese; blends
may contain less than 50% to 70% cheese.
The most common process involves blending
the desired varieties of cheese and fl avor with
water, dairy - based ingredients, color, and
emulsifying or melting salts to obtain a fl avor
concentrate. Emulsifying salts are commonly
used to disperse the fat and protein compo-
nents of the slurry prior to spray drying. The
concentrate is then spray dried by atomizing
it into a hot air stream and the powder col-
lected. Ingredient suppliers have developed
powders for specifi c applications. To reduce
the cost of the seasonings, enzyme - modifi ed
cheese and butter fl avor concentrates are fre-
quently used along with whey solids to
replace some of cheese solids. Certain non -
dairy ingredients are frequently included to
save costs.
To provide a variety of fl avors for the con-
sumer, salty snacks are seasoned with fl avor
combinations of sour cream, pizza, taco,
bacon, barbecue, salsa, onion and garlic. A
sharper cheese - type fl avor is achieved by the
use of Romano, blue, parmesan and cheddar
cheeses. If a mild cheese fl avor is desired,
Monterrey Jack or mozzarella cheese is used
in the formulation. Cheese is used sparingly
because it is an expensive component of
cheese powder.
To contain costs, frequently cheese solids
are replaced with fl avor concentrates in the
form of enzyme - modifi ed versions of cheese