the ingredient’s rapid change from liquid to solid curd is likely to show up as creaming on the surface of a non-dairy alternative drink. The souce for dry matter in nondairy alternative drinks made from vegetable origin, such as rice and soy, usually contains high amounts of fibre or starch, i.e. some insoluble particles that need to be suspended during storage for the desired shelf-life of the final product. And, while the same goes for almond flour, there’s an additional challenge since almond paste is highly sensitive to heat, carrying an ever-present threat of flocculation following UHT treatment, with phase separation as a result. It’s a multi-faceted, multi-ingredient landscape that can challenge even the best emulsion experts. Working with rice, for example, starch is the key issue; In soy drinks it’s protein; and in almond-based drinks the focus tends to be on flocculation. And the level of difficulty may well depend, too, on the form the various ingredients take – does the recipe call for paste or powder, or a liquid base? Do you want to work with a liquid soy base or solid proteins? Advanced control The unsaturated fat in the vegetable drinks demands strong emulsification ingredients, especially when long shelf-life products are produced. The introduction of the UHT technology has been incremental in achieving shelf-life of up to a year, depending on the composition of the product. used as emulsifiers in non-dairy alternative beverages. An emulsifier molecule has a hydrophilic and a lipophilic part and will consequently locate itself at the interface between the fat globules and the water phase. This happens during homogenisation of the drink. Emulsifier molecules also stabilize the emulsion, thereby reducing the fat separation in the product and improve the creaminess of the drink. Stabilizers are water-soluble polysaccharides extracted from land or marine plants or from microorganisms. Adding stabilizers helps create the network required to suspend particles, increase viscosity, and improve mouth-feel. They are used for thickening and stabilizing properties. There are, however, many types of stabilizers available, each suited for different jobs, which means that picking the right combination requires specific know-how of the individual stabilizers and its synergistic effects with emulsifiers. For almond, or rice drinks, for example, Palsgaard has developed Palsgaard® RecMilk 131, an emulsifier/stabilizer system that has shown consistently good results with high emulsion stability within a range of 0.18 to 0.20%. Palsgaard® RecMilk 131 comprises a combination of mono- and di- Figure 1: An emulsifier is a molecule with ambiphilic properties (part of the structure is hydrophilic and other moieties are lipophilic). In a multiphase system the emulsifier will adopt a favourable position with respect to energy. The emulsifier reduces surface tension between the phases To address formulation and production challenges and exercise an appropriate degree of control over particle suspension and fat stability properties, a careful mix of emulsifiers and stabilizers is recommended: Whichever UHT system is used, the application of emulsifiers and stabilisers in soy, rice and almond drinks is necessary for ensuring optimal emulsion stability. Mono- and diglycerides of fatty acids, made from edible vegetable fats and oils are commonly E E E E E Addition of emulsifier (E) to the liquid/liquid interface: Reduces interfacial tension Stabilizes emulsion 2
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