You can also use them to create meringues or add fluffiness to recipes. Egg yolks contain two important things not found in egg whites: fat and lecithin. Lecithin is a powerful emulsifier. A small addition of lecithin to a vinaigrette or sauce containing oil will help the liquids stay mixed for a longer time.

Many modernist chefs use lecithin derived from soy beans instead of egg lecithin because it is cheaper to produce and because recipes using soy lecithin have the added benefit of being completely vegan. Fat can support emulsions, but can also interfere with them. Fat is what gives vinaigrettes their body, but even a little fat in an egg white foam can cause the foam to destabilize.

That's because foams combine nonpolar air with polar liquids. Fat takes the place of air in some cases and makes the foam weaker. Here, the eggs are both sauce and custard, but the only ingredient in this emulsion is the egg itself!

While cheese is technically a dairy product, we felt it was worth mentioning separately here due to it unique properties. Most cheeses are solids at room temperature, but many become creamy emulsions when heated.

But if you've ever accidentally overheated a brie in the oven or tried making your own cheese sauce in the microwave, you know that some cheeses will split into unattractive masses of oil and cheese matter. The problem lies in emulsifiers. Once again, it is the milk proteins in cheese that act as emulsifiers. The particular ratio of fats to other ingredients in cheese determine how it will behave when melted.

In reduced-fat cheese, a high level of protein that tends to make the cheese firm and difficult to melt caused an increase in shear rate and apparent viscosity.

The reduction of fat content in cheese emulsion had an adverse effect on flowability and resulted in problems in pumping and droplet formation during atomization due to their high viscosity. Both RF samples without MWP having higher shear stress values were observed as too viscous for atomization. Our hypothesis was that addition of MWP can decrease stress values and increase flowability of reduced-fat emulsions.

MWP particles have good lubrication properties due to small particle size and spherical shape which called as a ball-bearing mechanism Liu et al. Aryana and Haque reported that microparticulated protein imparts discontinuity to the protein matrix, just as milk fat globules do in full-fat cheese, which results in softer low-fat cheese.

Fortunately, the use of MWP had positive effects on the viscosity and flowability of samples. It was able to interrupt the continuity of the firm para-casein network, to improve creaminess and to reduce the viscosity. In our study, one of the aims was to find the optimum amount of MWP which imitates the flow behavior of FF In earlier studies, FF 25 was found suitable for feeding to pilot plant spray drier Erbay et al. These results showed that the amount of MWP used was very important for the feeding properties of emulsion used for cheese powder production.

The shear stress versus shear rate profiles clearly indicated that samples had non-Newtonian rheological properties. Rheological parameters were changed with the fat reduction and the MWP addition amount.

RF 25 showed higher K and lower n values, but increasing amount of MWP added to the sample helped to decrease in K values, indicating lower consistency of the reduced-fat cheese emulsions. Thus, the addition of MWP to reduced-fat cheese emulsion system helps to reduce the consistency and increase the flow behavior.

Kelimu et al. RF 20 was also given as a control sample for evaluating the effects of fat replacer. Higher magnification lenses could not be used for imaging due to the compact structure of stable emulsions. Fat content had a major influence on the visual properties of emulsion.

RF 20 had a more compact and uniform network that consisted of less fat globules Fig. Fat globules in FF 25 showed a more open network with more space between protein aggregates. The higher protein amount in RF 20 covered the fat globules and resulted in an increase in the interactions between the protein chains. This was more obvious for the samples RF25 having very compact and uniform structure Fig. The addition of MWP in RF 20 resulted in the formation of porous structure similar to FF 25, having fat globules entrapped in the protein structure Fig.

Therefore, MWP addition to reduced-fat formulation helps to imitate microstructure to full-fat counterparts. Color characteristics were significantly affected by dry matter, fat content and the addition of fat replacer Table 4. Lightness was found higher in FF when compared to RF due to the high light scattering ability of fat globules, whereas high amount of caseins in RF cheese caused a negative effect on light scattering attributes.

Similar to our results, Chung et al. Yellow color of dairy products generally increases as the fat content increases. This was noted in the white-brined cheese emulsion system. This could be attributed to the small size of MWP particles providing fat mimicking properties.

Lower fat and dry matter contents, as well as higher amount of MWP contributed the green color of the samples. Fat content and addition of fat replacer had significant effects on glossiness, flowability and mouth coating Table 5. RF 25 and 20 had lower flowability and glossiness scores, and higher mouth coating scores compared to those of FF The addition of MWP to reduced-fat formulation significantly increased the sensory scores of glossiness and flowability and decreased the scores of mouth coating.

MWP can soften the cheese texture Koca and Metin, and gives a creamy and smooth mouthfeel Liu et al. Sensory results of the emulsions were in line with the rheological results. The grittiness, mealiness and graininess were also evaluated by assessors data not shown. These characteristics, which are not desired in cheese emulsion due to the clogging of the atomizer, were not detected in all samples.

It was also noted that foreign flavor was not detected even in the samples with maximum amount of MWP. The instable emulsions were also evaluated, and these samples were perceived as too grainy. These particles can cause atomization problems and to form scorched particles in the drying chamber.

The stability, rheological properties and microstructure of cheese emulsion are key characteristics for the efficiency of spray drying and final powder quality. Fat reduction in white-brined cheese emulsion significantly increased the apparent viscosity that caused atomization problems during the spray drying process. The ability of MWP on improving the rheological properties and stability of reduced-fat white-brined cheese emulsions were investigated. Our results showed that using MWP in reduced-fat formulation may be a good alternative to obtain pumpable emulsion by softening the structure and providing low apparent viscosity.

MWP could not improve the stability of the instable emulsion whereas the stable emulsions kept their stability. This investigation provided valuable information about the emulsions made from reduced-fat brined-cheese by filling the research gap in this field. On the other hand, the amount of MWP used for cheeses having different composition and properties could change. Therefore, the optimum amounts need to be determined for different kinds of cheeses.

In addition, further researches are necessary to investigate the effects of reduced-fat cheese emulsions with MWP on cheese powder characteristics and to compare them with the characteristics of full-fat cheese powders for the benefit of end-users.

No conflicts of interest, financial or otherwise, are declared by the authors. Conceptualization: Urgu M, Koca N. Software: Urgu M. Investigation: Koca N. In cheeses that have different protein:fat ratios, this would happen at a different emulsification level.

An over-emulsified cheese is hard and non-melting, while the reverse is true of an under-emulsified cheese. Over-emulsification can occur when adding re-work cheese, due to the additional emulsifying salts contained within this cheese. It may be necessary to reduce the level of emulsifier salts when using a substantial amount of re-work.

Most natural cheeses have more fat than is needed for typical emulsification. Skim-milk cheeses such as Parmesan, however, have an excess of protein. In this case, there's not enough fat to take care of all the proteins, which separate into grainy or chalky water-phase deposits. Increasing the degree of emulsification with emulsifying salts can increase the available fat - the salts expand the surface area of the fat, without changing the amount of fat, potentially yielding a harder, higher-melting cheese.

An additional fat source, such as vegetable oil, could also improve such a product. Process cheese foods and spreads often require additional ingredients to bind the extra water added to these products.

Hydrocolloids and gums bind water, control viscosity during processing, and contribute to the finished texture of the cheese product. Other ingredients, such as whey proteins, provide some of the same functionalities, and are very cost effective.

These proteins add body and provide a smooth, creamy texture, but do not melt, stretch, spread or retain finished-cheese firmness, as caseins do. The hydrocolloids permitted in a process cheese spread are carob bean gum, gum karaya, gum tragacanth, guar gum, gelatin, sodium carboxymethylcellulose, carrageenan, oat gum, algin, propylene glycol alginate and xanthan gum.

Guar gum is commonly evaluated because of its low cost. Up to 0. One of the issues in utilizing a gum is dispersability. Agglomerated gums with improved dispersibility are available, but they cost more. It's important to consider processing conditions and formulation when selecting a gum. Also, some gums are more acid-tolerant than others. Using xanthan gum above 0. When it comes to special effects, gums have even more unique qualities.

If meltability is undesirable, combining the right formula and process will give the best result. The right combination of emulsifiers and gums also plays an important role when formulating reduced-fat or fat-free process cheese products. For this reason, citrates work well in reduced-fat applications. Kappa, iota and lambda carrageenans can provide these products with textures ranging from a strong gel to a paste.

Recent research conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and funded by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board involved the interactions of ingredients and processing conditions in the development of a fat-free process cheese. This research revealed that the best meltability was associated with trisodium citrate, and the best spreadability with a combination of DSP and guar gum. For creating a process cheese with a nice, characteristic cheese flavor, EMCs are the primary ingredient of choice.

However, "process cheese products can only be flavored with an EMC made from the cheese variety for which it is used as a flavoring agent," says Gene Seitz, Ph. Hansen, Inc. Using aged cheese is not only functionally prohibitive due to emulsion-stability problems, but it's also cost prohibitive.

EMCs have their own set of economics. UF retentate is made via ultrafiltration of milk and yields a product that contains whey proteins as well as casein. As with all ingredients, improving process efficiency is key. Whether you are looking for that hint of a "goaty" note from branched-chain amino acids or for a flavor potentiator such as sodium glutamate, characteristic of Parmesan, there's an EMC for your formula.

So the next time you bite into a cheese-filled entree or spread a process cheese product on a cracker, think about all the factors affecting that cheese. When all the elements - protein:fat ratio, type of protein, pH and moisture levels, amount of re-work added, age of the cheese, type of emulsifier salts - come together correctly, it is indeed possible to have the ideal cheese for just about any application.

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