FoodNet

Experimental cookery

1932

Page 253

Presented as published in 1932. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
above 7 the milk was almost black. Hence, the sugar used, the reaction, and temperature all influenced the development of the brown color. The length of heating in connection with the temperature was important as relatively high temperatures for a short period gave only slight develop- ment of the brown color. It is almost impossible to retain the natural color of fresh milk in the condensed milk products, for some brow^n discoloration occurs in the unsweetened and sweetened product whether made from whole or skim milk. Whittier and Benton had shown that the hydrogen-ion concentration increases at a rate which is the function of the lactose concentration and the time and temperature of heating. Or, in other words, when milk is heated for a sufficient time at high enough temperatures the lactose is decomposed with formation of acid products. Hence, when milk is heated with sucrose the increasing acidity inverts some of the sucrose to dextrose and levulose, with the development of a brownish color. One example of this is in the cooking of caramels, more brown color developing with long slow cooking of the sucrose and milk. Another instance where this is used to advantage is in making caramel pudding by boiling, in the can, sweetened condensed milk for three hours or longer. The can and contents are chilled. On opening the can it is found that the contents have developed the brown color of caramelized products and are thickened to the consistency of a pudding. This combination of sugar with milk proteins to form a thickened product is interesting in view of the fact that sucrose, dextrose, and levu- lose prevent the heat coagulation of egg albumin. The housewife also makes use of the effect of acid on sweetened con- densed milk. If about Yi cup of lemon juice is stirred into the contents of a can (about 1^ cups) of sweetened condensed milk, the mixture thickens to a consistency that can be used for a pudding or pie filling and may be thinned with water to a desired consistency. The explanation of the thickening lies in the action of the acid on the complex sugar-protein combination. Cheese Definition. The Food and Drug Administration defines cheese, in the regulatory announcements, as "a product made from curd obtained from the whole, partly skimmed, or skimmed milk of cows, or from milk of other animals with or without added cream, by coagulating with rennet, lactic acid, or other suitable enzyme or acid, and with or without further treatment of the separated curd by heat or pressure, or by means of ripen- ing ferments, special molds, or seasoning." Classification of cheese. Cheese may be classified in many ways as (1) method by which the curd is produced, i.e., acid or rennet coagula- tion, (2) source of the milk, from cow, sheep, or goat, and (3) the COAGULATION OF MILK FOR CHEESE 311 texture and consistency of the cheese, i.e., whether soft, semi-hard, or hard. Many other classifications might be used but none of them are entirely satisfactory. Doane and Lawson list and describe nearly 300 cheeses. They state there are probably about 18 distinct varieties of cheese. For purposes of discussion, Rogers classifies cheese as follows: Soft Hard Unripened Semi-hard Cottage Ripened by molds Cream Gorgonzola Neufchatel Roquefort Ripened Stilton Ripened by molds Ripened by bacteria Camembert Brick Brie Munster Ripened by bacteria Very hard