Dairy Whitener

Majority of people take tea or coffee in India. The availability of milk for this purpose all the time is difficult particularly in the absence of refrigeration facilities in many households. Dairy whitener is widely used as a substitute for fresh milk, cream or evaporated milk in tea, coffee, cocoa or drinking chocolate and is also suitable for adding to foods like soups, sauces, puddings and cereal dishes. The Dairy whitener should possess good whitening ability good dispensability, feathering resistance and emulsion stability. These are produced in fluid, condensed and dried forms and differ widely in their formulation. Their production has gone up during the last two decades because of their acceptability as a convenient, shelf stable and ready to reconstitute product.

i. Major Ingredients of Dairy Whiteners

Protein: Protein serves multifunction in whiteners. It provides whitening power,imparts body, has feathering resistance, and improves flavor by contributing a flavor of its own and by reducing the acridity of the tannic acids. It also forms complexes with the tannins in the coffee and improves the taste and lessens the astringents mouth feel. The amount of protein used in the formulation should be enough to completely envelop the fat globules with a hydrophilic membrane, as the total surface area of globules is very large owing to their larger size that is 0.7 –1.0 micron.

Fat: Fat is the Main constituent of dairy whitener. It imparts whitening power,body, and viscosity to the product. The whitening effect produced in coffee, primarily as a result of light reflected from the surface of the fat globules. The milk fat though quite bland in taste imparts richness/smoothness to the dairy whitener.

Sugar: Sugar imparts sweet taste and improves body. It also reduces freezing points of the emulsion and contributes to the caloric value.

Stabilizing salts: Certain phosphate and citrate salts improve the colloidal solubility of proteins. The use of phosphate salts is particularly desirable when the water used for manufacture, is high in calcium or magnesium. Such salts are usually used at 0.10- 0.15% based on total fluid weight .The disodium or dipotassium salts of phosphoric acid are most commonly used, although other sodium and potassium phosphates are suitable. The use of deionized water may obviate the need for these salts.

ii. Quality Attributes

The sole purpose of coffee/ tea whitener is the development of a desirable color change in tea /coffee. Whitening is also influenced by processing parameter. Whitening ability can be improved by processing condition that produce smaller fat globules and produce more interactions between the fat, emulsifiers and casein, which align at the fat water interface. These interaction and small globules will reflect more light,producing more of the whitening effect in tea / coffee. In addition to whitening, dairy whitener should also impart body, mouth feel and flavor to the beverages or food to which it is added such as coffee/ tea or cereal dishes. Good dairy whiteners must have sufficient whitening power, emulsion stability, instant solubility and feathering resistance in beverage or food for which it is especially formulated. For example coffee whiteners should have the ability to withstand the high temperature (80-900C) and low pH (4.6 –5.2) of coffee solution. The emulsion stability of coffee whitener is also affected with ionic concentration of calcium coming from coffee and hard water.