Heat-Induced Milk Gels. II. Preparation of Gels and Measurement of Firmness

Abstract

A penetrometric procedure was devised for determining gel firmness to evaluate effects of various factors on heat-induced gelation of concentrated skimmilk. Milk gels were prepared by heating skimmilk powder suspensions (50% total solids) in sausage casings 19 mm in diameter at 100 C for 10 minutes. Gel firmness was measured by the force required for penetration of a disk-shaped probe, 6.2 mm in diameter, through encased milk gels 4.5 cm high and 1.9 cm in diameter. The firmness thereby measured was reproducible with a coefficient of variation of ± 3.3%. © 1971, American Dairy Science Association. All rights reserved.