Experimental study of the additives influence on the forming process, stability and rheology of the whipped cream.

Abstract

This study focuses on the data obtained through experimental study of the formation process, stability and rheological behavior of the foam formed by whipping cream. The goal of this work is to correlate the influence of different variables to the formulation of a whipped cream with low fat content, without modifying the characteristic properties of commercial whipped creams. A market study was conducted in order to know the whipping cream that can be found in the Barcelona area looking for the different additives used for this type of product and the respective fat contents. Different experiments with commercial whipped cream were performed to find the influence the temperature, beater speed, beating time and the fat concentration in the formation process. It was found that each one of these variables has an effect on the amount of air trapped in the foam or overrun and the time taken for the foam to achieve the stiffness, opacity and texture characteristic of the whipped cream. Temperature is the variable that has the greatest influence on the foam formation with high overrun at low temperatures condition. Once production variables were studied, formulation of cream with low fat content with additives which permit the stabilization of its foam was studied. The compounds selected to improve stability were proteins such as hydrolyzed milk protein and ovalbumin. These ones helped the whipping process because of its sparkling character, and also did not have influence on the stability. Addition of a thickener, xanthan gum, to have a synergistic effect with protein, was studied. The two combinations, xanthan gum-ovalbumin and xanthan gum-hydrolyzed milk protein showed great improvements in stability. The storage temperature is decisive for the stability due to drainage. The rheological behavior of the formulated whipped cream follows the same trends as commercial whipped creams ones. Due to the variations of viscoelastic properties, a consumer study should be carried out for the adoption as product.