Chemistry of Milk Constituents

Abstract

Milk is a very complex fluid. It contains four principal constituents, water, lipids, proteins and lactose and perhaps 100 minor constituents, the most important of which from a cheesemaking viewpoint is calcium phosphate. The manufacture and quality of cheese depend, especially, on the properties of one of its protein groups, the caseins, and to a lesser extent on the lipids. Most ({\textasciitilde}90 %) of the water of milk is removed in the whey, which contains the soluble constituents, i.e., the whey proteins, lactose and some of the inorganic salts. Traditionally, whey was an almost worthless by-product but it is now the source of several very valuable products which are described in Chap. 22 .