What is milk powder?
Milk powder is milk to which the water has been extracted, so that a dry matter remains. This powder is made in two forms: SMP and WMP. Skimmed milk powder is produced by evaporating water from low-fat milk, non-fat milk powder by evaporating water from whole milk. After dilute with water of milk powder milk formed again, albeit with a slightly altered flavor.
Process
After treatment of the milk (some steps to improve the sustainability and homogeneity) is about 87% of the milk water-so there would be 13% remain at full abstraction. This is not in one step. First of all, is there in a vacuum distillation water evaporates-by the low pressure the boiling point lower, and evaporates the water easier. This can take up to about 25% of the processed milk is left (at that time there has been 50% dry substance in the mixture), because after that the liquid flow properties no longer to be able to go through this process. The used temperature with this preparatory process has great influence on the properties of the final powder-such as whether the proteins denatured or not.
This mixture is then atomized in a spray tower where it is surrounded by hot, dry air which removes the water. The fluid is blown into small droplets at the top of a tower, where the air is still dry, and then drops down into about 8 to 30 seconds. By the time it arrives below the liquid becomes a powder, and the air is much more moist (and therefore heavier). Each droplet is now a pinch.
The sputtering technique (spraying or with the aid of a disk) can vary, and influences the size and variety of the droplets and hence the grains of the powdered milk. With the aid of centrifugal forces (a "cyclone"), the heavier powder is thrown out and thus separated from the air. After separation, the powder can be still wet, so that it is more soluble, and there are larger grains are formed. Na (air-tight), the container is then ready for transport.
In addition to the use of hot air can also be chosen for other drying techniques. For example, there is the possibility of drum-drying, in which a film layer of the milk is applied to a rotating heated drum which is then scraped to be (with slight caramelization). Use can also be made of freeze-drying in which there is as yet retain more properties of the milk.
The condensed form powder ideally suited to transport over long distances. The disadvantage of milk powder is the high energy consumption that is needed for the evaporation. , By failing to remove all water from the milk and to add one sugar is condensed milk.
History
Use of evaporated milk goes back to at least the time of Marco Polo, who described how the soldiers of Kublai Khan sundried milk brought with them, as if it were a paste. In 1837 by William Newton was a patented process to vacuum dry milk.
Trivia
In common parlance the terms 'milk' and 'creamer' are used interchangeably. Creamer, however, is not a dairy product.