A good-quality, long-lasting cream product cannot be made without rigorous pasteurization and normal fermentation beforehand. However, cream often arrives at the plant with high acidity, which makes the primary pasteurization and fermentation processes impracticable.
Cream with advanced acidity (above 25° Dornic) breaks down when it is pasteurized: as soon as it is placed in the ripening tank to ferment, it separates into three distinct layers:
1st Butterfat 2nd Curd 3rd Whey
When cream in this condition is pasteurized, it does not ferment properly, because the selected dairy culture does not find a suitable medium in which to grow. To pasteurize cream without these problems, its acidity must be standardized, that is, brought in line with the specified standards.
BASICREME Acidity Regulator is a powerful and efficient regulator of cream acidity.
This alkaline compound, with a mild pH range (it reaches a range of 8 to 10), delivers high performance in balancing cream acidity without affecting its natural flavor, resulting in high-quality cream ready for the subsequent pasteurization and fermentation processes.
Cream whose acidity has been properly balanced with BASICREME Acidity Regulator gives your final product high quality.
How to use BASICREME acidity regulator
TREATING HIGHLY ACIDIFIED CREAM
The cream that manufacturers receive from their suppliers usually shows advanced fermentation and very high acidity.
This happens because of minimal hygiene during collection and also because of difficult and sometimes lengthy transport, so the cream arrives at its destination at varying ages and in an advanced state of fermentation.
The product made from cream in this condition has a short shelf life and inferior quality.
Since they cannot intervene to improve the cream or reject heavily acidified batches, manufacturers have to rely on technical means capable of overcoming these difficulties.
Some countries, such as the United States of America and Argentina, faced the same problems and solved them successfully by regulating the excess acidity of cream with special products.
Today, with the refinement of new techniques, regulating cream acidity is considered a standard and indispensable practice in dairy plants, factories and creameries.
Regulating the acidity of cream should be understood as an improvement process, since the acidity is reduced to a suitable limit rather than eliminated entirely.
The advantages of this process are clear: cream treated this way gives a higher yield, loses less butterfat in the whey and produces a product with better appearance and flavor. Cream obtained in this way is very uniform and also keeps for a reasonable length of time, which is of considerable interest as well.
While acidified cream cannot be pasteurized (subjected to heating), the same is not true of cream whose acidity has been regulated by treatment.
Treating high-acidity cream with a product such as BASICREME Acidity Regulator results in a better product with a longer shelf life.
HOW TO USE BASICREME ACIDITY REGULATOR
Step 1: Determine the acidity to be regulated.
First, the cream from the various sources is combined and mixed until it is thoroughly homogeneous. If the cream is very thick, it should be diluted. Next, a sample is taken and the total acidity is determined. This acidity must be reduced to 20° Dornic, the acidity the cream should end up with.
Example: Cream acidity 62°D | Standard acidity 20°D = Acidity to be reduced 42°D
How to determine acidity:
In a test tube, combine 10 cc of cream (*) and 2 drops of 2% phenolphthalein.
Then add Dornic Solution (N/9) drop by drop from the Dornic apparatus, stirring constantly, until a light pink color persists in the cream.
The degrees (tenths) of solution used correspond to the acidity.
Acidity should not be reduced too far. Unsuitable ingredients should not be used to achieve the reduction either, especially those that produce a lot of foam or leave off-flavors, residues and insoluble substances in the product.
(*) In practice, the cream is best measured with a good syringe (pipettes leave part of the cream on their walls).
Step 2: Determine the amount of Basicreme Acidity Regulator needed.
With the degrees of acidity to be reduced in hand, refer to the table below, which gives the amount of regulator to be used per kilogram of cream.
So, if 42° D of cream acidity to be reduced requires 9.660 g of reducer per kilogram, 100 (one hundred) kilograms will need 966 g of Basicreme.
BASICREME ACIDITY REGULATOR APPLICATION TABLE
Step 3: How to apply Basicreme Acidity Regulator to the cream being treated.
Dissolve BASICREME Acidity Regulator in 10 times its weight in water at a temperature between 40 and 45°C.
In the example above, 966 grams of BASICREME Acidity Regulator are dissolved in 9.66 liters of water at 40 to 45°C. Once it has fully dissolved, the BASICREME Acidity Regulator is added to the cream gradually, with continuous stirring, preferably using a container fitted with a sprinkler head that sprays the reducing solution over the cream as it is stirred.
When this is done, the Dornic acidity is tested again and, if it is within the standards, the cream is then pasteurized.
After pasteurization, the necessary fermentation is carried out using selected lactic cultures. Finally, the cream is churned.
For churning, the cream should be at a temperature of 11 to 12°C and should be churned until it becomes granular, without going past that point.
BASICREME acidity regulator is a product exempt from registration with ANVISA (Brazil's national health regulatory agency) under RDC 027 of August 6, 2010 (an ANVISA resolution).
In a recent study carried out by the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, by a team coordinated by Prof. Dr. Rodrigo Stephan, tests were performed to characterize the influence of Basicreme on the colloidal stabilization of milk. The study concluded that milk with added Basicreme showed greater resistance to coagulation, and that adding Basicreme significantly increased the stability of pasteurized milk in the alcohol test.
The influence of Basicreme on the production of dulce de leche showed satisfactory results for the parameters evaluated.
Based on the experiments carried out, it was concluded that Basicreme has great industrial potential.
We are at your disposal for further technical information or for a price quote.