Whey—A Low-Cost Dairy Product for Use in Candy

Abstract

Milk and its products are basic ingredients in many confections. Whey, a highly nutritious dairy product with important functional uses in certain candies, is the least expensive of the dairy products commonly available for confectionery use. The price of whey solids may be 25–40% less than the price of nonfat milk solids. Although whey contains half of the solids of milk, fat and casein having been removed in the manufacture of cheese, the residue generally has not been prepared for confectionery use because of certain problems inherent in the cheese industry. Only recently, as cheese manufacture was consolidated and as cheese was produced in large factories, has sufficient whey become available to make processing of it economical. Furthermore, whey contains most of the sugar (lactose of milk) and this has made it difficult to dry or prepare in suitable concentrated form. Recent processing innovations have overcome this latter problem. © 1966, American Dairy Science Association. All rights reserved.