Specifics of Milk and Plant-based Milk-like Products Coagulation

Abstract

Milk coagulation is one of the most important technological operations in the production of many dairy products, such as cheeses or yogurt. Recently, there has been a surge of interest for plant-based milk substitutes. Besides, under certain conditions, milk-like colloid systems are able to form curds. This quality makes it possible to obtain cheese-like and yoghurt-like products. This makes the issue of coagulation mechanisms in milk-like systems even more relevant. The authors conducted a review of the main physicochemical properties of milk and milk-like systems and proposed a model that describes the colloidal stability of cow milk proteins and plant proteins of milk-like systems. In both cases, it was the electric charge that provided colloidal stability of the systems. The charge was caused by dissociation of some functional groups of protein complexes. The authors believe that phosphorus-containing organic compounds help to maintain the colloidal stability of milk and plant-based milk-like systems. This explains the important role of calcium and magnesium in the coagulation of milk and plant-based milk-like systems. The paper describes the mechanism of rennet, acid, and acid-rennet milk coagulation. It contains an explanation for the coagulation of plant-based milk analogues under the action of acid and solutions of calcium and magnesium salts. The authors propose a hypothesis that explains the temperature dependence of the coagulation in milk and milk-like systems.