Crystallization Mechanisms of Cream during Butter Manufacturing

Patrizia Buldo & Lars Wiking

patrizia.buldo@agrsci.dk. Aarhus University, Department of Food Science, Blichers All 20, P. O. Box 50, 8830 Tjele, Denmark

Introduction
Tempering and ripening of cream are the production time consuming steps in butter production. These steps vary during the year based on the fatty acid composition of the cream. A better understanding of the mechanisms leading to partial coalescence, such as fat crystallization during butter manufacturing, will contribute to optimization of the production process.

Conclusions
Viscosity measurements can be used to monitor partial coalescence (formation of butter grains) during churning in a starch cell Ripening time influences both the churning time and final viscosity Longer ripening time results in larger butter grains

Aim
To examine the mechanisms of cream crystallization during churning, including the effect of ripening time and thereby understand how churning time and partial coalescence are affected.

Crystallization behavior changes just before butter grain aggregation occurs

Results
14 12 10 After 1h of ripening After 5h of ripening After 5min of churning After 14min of churning Just before butter grains aggregation 14 12 10 After 1h of ripening After 5min of churning Just before butter grains aggregation 8 6 4 2 0

Volume (%)

Volume (%)

8
-0.1

6 4 2
Heat Flow (W/g)
-0.2

End of ripening (1h) Coalesced milk fat globules Just before butter grains aggregation

-0.3

b
14 12 10

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

Processing time (min)

8

c
6

100

200

300

400

Processing time (min)

-0.4

Viscosity (Pa*sec)

After 5min of churning After 10min of churning After 15min of churning Just before butter grains aggregation

5h of ripening No ripening 1h of ripening 30min of ripening

-0.5

-0.6 10
Exo Up

20

30

40

50

Temperature ( C)

Volume (%)

8 6 4 2 0

Fig. 2: Melting behavior during ripening and churning of cream.

2

50

100

150

200

Fig. 1: Viscosity during churning of cream ripened at 10C for 5, 1, 0.5, and 0 hours (a). Coalesced milk fat globule size during ripening for 5h (b), 1h (c), and 0h (d) and churning.

Processing time (min)

10

15

20

25

30

Churning Time (min)

During ripening, no changes in viscosity nor in milk fat globule size were observed A ripening time of 5 hours leads to the highest viscosity and shortest churning time (15min), while, when no ripening treatment was applied to the cream, the churning time was 23 min, and the final viscosity was significantly lower Coalescence of milk fat globules begins right after that the churn starts The final size of coalescence of milk fat globules was approximately 100m (5h), 70m (1h), 60m (30min) and 53m (0min)

The first milk fat fraction to be crystallized during ripening is the high melting fraction (HMF) During churning the HMF melting peak shifts from 33.5C to 38.9C, and its area increases as the churning proceeds A new HMF crystallized just before butter grain aggregation occurs

Materials & Methods

Butter manufacturing in a lab scale (Rheomether- starch cell): pasteurized milk cream (38% fat) was supplied by ARLA FOODS (DK). After erasing the crystal history of the cream by heat treatment, the cream was ripening at 10C for 5, 1, 0.5 and 0 hours, respectively. After that, the cream was churned at 13C, at 100 rad/sec, until required. Oscillation Rheology: during the entire butter processing, the viscosity was followed as function of ripening and churning time by a rheometer (AR-G2, TA Instrument) supplied with a starch cell geometry. Milk fat globule size: coalesced milk fat globule size was investigated as function of ripening and churning time by a laser light scattering (Malvern Hydro 2000S; Malvern Instrument, UK). Melting profile of cream during butter processing: the melting profile was analyzed as function of ripening and churning time by Q 2000 Differential Scanning Calorimeter (DSC; TA Instrument, USbased). The cream samples were heated to 60C at 5C/min.

Acknowledgement
The authors wish to thank ARLA FOODS, FOOD Denmark and the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Fisheries for financing the PhD project.