Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 471–478

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Food Engineering

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jfoodeng

Influence of processing and j-carrageenan on properties of whipping cream

R. Kováčová *, J. Štětina, L. Čurda
Department of Dairy and Fat Technology, The Institute of Chemical Technology, Prague, Technická 5, 166 28 Prague 6, Czech Republic

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The aim of this work was to characterise the influence of ultra-high-temperature (UHT) treatment and
Received 28 February 2009 high-pressure homogenisation on functional properties of whipping cream (30% fat content) in relation
Received in revised form 8 February 2010 to adding j-carrageenan (0%, 0.02% and 0.04% in milk plasma). The determination of the particle size dis-
Accepted 9 February 2010
tribution, which was measured by laser diffraction and verified by microscopic observation, indicated
Available online 17 February 2010
that the diameter of fat globules decreased significantly by homogenisation but clusters of small fat glob-
ules were produced before the carrageenan–casein micelles aggregates. The viscosity of cream was
Keywords:
increased and the thixotropic behaviour was observed both by adding carrageenan and by homogenisa-
Whipping cream
UHT
tion. The homogenisation significantly increased colloidal stability during storage and milk plasmas’
Homogenisation release was minimised in combination with carrageenan addition. The most influenced functional prop-
Carrageenan erties were: the whippability, which was significantly impaired by homogenisation, and the stability of
Particle size distribution whipped foam, which was significantly improved with the increase of the carrageenan concentration.
Rheology Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Colloidal stability
Whipping properties

1. Introduction at low pressure (Everett, 2007; Walstra et al., 1999). A disadvan-

Cream with a higher fat content, typically 30–40%, is often re-
ferred to as whipping cream. It is primarily designed to be beaten
into a foam; however this cream is also used unwhipped as a des-
sert, for cooking, etc. In addition to tasting good (the product is ea-
ten for its flavour) and keeping well (long shelf life is required),
whipping cream should also have good whippability, i.e. it must
be easy to whip and produce a fine cream froth with a good in-
crease in volume. The foam has to be firm and stable, and should
not be susceptible to syneresis. Sometimes carrageenan, which is
known for its interactions with casein micelles, is added as a thick-
ening agent (Bylund, 1995; Everett, 2007; Walstra et al., 1999),
especially to long-life cream (Bixler et al., 2001). Carrageenans
are sulphated, anionic polysaccharides extracted from red sea-
weeds (class Rhodophyceae) (Falshow et al., 2001). The appropriate
heat treatment is applied by law, because of health safety. At the
least, the pasteurisation of the cream should be used to fully inac-
tivate milk lipase. Usually, the heat treatment is far more intense in
order to improve the bacterial keeping quality and ensure long
shelf life. Sterilisation and long storage of whipping cream may
cause problems. It often causes coalescence, unless the cream is
first homogenised. However, most homogenised cream cannot be
whipped. Accordingly, UHT heating is also preferred because of
the flavour. The cream should then be homogenised aseptically
* Corresponding author. Tel.: +420 220 443 271; fax: +420 220 443 285.
E-mail address: renata.kovacova@vscht.cz (R. Kováčová).
tage of UHT whipping cream is that the temperature fluctuations
to which it may be subject (it is often stored uncooled for a time)
can cause ‘‘rebodying”. This implies a considerable increase in vis-
cosity that, moreover, strongly impairs the whipping properties
(churching rather than whipping). To prevent coalescence and
the creaming during storage, a stabilising agent is generally added.
It can be, for example, the over mentioned carrageenan (Walstra
et al., 1999) or another commercial stabiliser, which can be a pro-
prietary mixture of mono- and diglycerides, disodium phosphate,
sodium citrate, guar gum, carrageenan, locust bean gum and soya
lecithin (Smith et al., 2000a, b). Nevertheless, a controlled destabil-
isation or partial coalescence of the emulsion is needed during fur-
ther processing to develop an internal structure of agglomerated
fat for water–air interface of whipped product (Goff, 1997). Carra-
geenan can be added to prevent creaming because of both viscosity
increase of cream and minimise leakage of serum phase from the
air cell network of whipped cream (Stanley et al., 1996). However,
the adding of stabilisers can cause increased whipping time and re-
duce any overrun (Camacho et al., 1998). In the work of Sedlmeyer
and Kulozik (2006), they conclude that UHT treatment leads in
milk protein–carrageenan system to a change of the size of the
casein micelle microdomains to units that have better capabilities
to reinforce the structure of weak gel, which is preferable for liquid
dairy products. Furthermore, a release of calcium ions into the milk
serum allow for a more uniform neutralization of the net charge of
the partners in protein–carrageenan network. Finally, the fact that
lower cooling temperatures favour the mobility of the carrageenan

0260-8774/$ - see front matter Ó 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jfoodeng.2010.02.010
472 R. Kováčová et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 471–478
strands during the build-up of the network resulting in a more
homogeneous network (Sedlmeyer and Kulozik, 2006), can also
be appreciated for dairy creams. The aim of this work was to char-
acterise the influence of both processing (UHT treatment and
homogenisation) on rheological and functional properties of whip-
ping cream (30% fat content) in relation to adding j-carrageenan in
concentration 0%, 0.02% and 0.04% (in milk plasma).
2. Materials and methods
Cream (40% fat content) and skim milk was obtained from the
dairy (Alimpex Food a.s., Prague, CZ) on two different dates as
two replicate batches. From each batch, three types of whipping
cream were prepared with 30% fat content and different concentra-
tion of jÙcarrageenan (0%, 0.02% and 0.04% in milk plasma). These
samples were treated by UHT process and homogenisation.
The fat content was standardised to 30% with the addition of
skim milk, in which j-carrageenan (TRUMF International s.r.o.,
Dolní Újezd, CZ) was dissolved for 30 min at 70 °C during intensive
stirring (3000 rpm) by rotor–stator mixer Silverson L4RT (Silverson
Machines Ltd., Chesham Bucks, UK). Skim milk with dissolved j-
carrageenan was mixed with tempered cream (70 °C), cooled in a
water bath and stored in a refrigerator. The cream with zero carra-
geenan content (reference sample) was prepared in the same way
because of a comparable heating history. From each sample (each
with a different concentration of carrageenan), three types of prod-
ucts were prepared: pasteurised cream (without additional treat-
ment), UHT treated cream and UHT treated homogenised cream.
The UHT treatment (136 ± 2 °C, 1.5 s) either with or without down-
stream homogenisation (13–14 MPa, 70 ± 7 °C) was carried out by
indirect HTST/UHT tubular heat exchanger processing unit FT74
(Armfield Ltd., Ringwood, UK), which was connected with high-
pressure homogeniser NS1002 Panda (GEA Niro Soavi S.p.A., Par-
ma, IT) behind the first cooling stage. The treated cream was then
cooled down to 30 °C by the second cooling stage and cooling to
15 °C was finished by water bath. The samples were stored in a
refrigerator (5 ± 1 °C).
Finally, nine different samples of whipping cream were produced.
It was a combination of three concentrations of j-carrageenan
(0%, 0.02% and 0.04% in milk plasma) and three different technology
treatments (pasteurisation, UHT and UHT + homogenisation).
2.1. Size distribution analysis
The particle size distribution was determined by laser diffrac-
tion using the Mastersizer 2000 with the sample dispersion unit
Hydro 2000G (Malvern Instruments Ltd., Malvern, UK). Samples
were measured using two ways: dispersion of sample only in
demineralised water (determination of all particle size distribu-
tion) and dilution of sample (1:1 vol) with buffer (35 mmol l1
EDTA/NaOH; pH 7.0) followed by dispersion in 0.1% solution of so-
dium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) (dissociation of casein micelles and
determination only the fat globule size distribution) (Michalski
et al., 2002). The refractive index of milk fat globules was taken
to be 1.46, absorption 0.01 and water refractive index 1.33
(Michalski et al., 2001). A volume distribution, showing the volume
percentage of particles that have a given size, was reported. Vol-
ume weighted mean diameter d4,3 (lm) was calculated (based on
the Mie theory) from the size distribution by the software Master-
sizer 2000 version 5.13 (Malvern Instruments Ltd., Malvern, UK).
2.2. Microscope observations
Microscopic images were taken by light microscope Leica 55
(Leica Microsystems Ltd., Wetzlar, D) with digital camera Leica
DFC 320 and processed by software Lucia G on VGA (version
4.60). Samples were diluted in demineralised water, placed on a
glass slide and covered with cover slip. Objective N Plan was used
with a magnification 50.
2.3. Measurements of rheological properties
Rheological experiments were performed with a rotational rhe-
ometer RheoStress RS 80 using coaxial cylinder geometry Z40
(Thermo Haake GmbH, Karlsruhe, D) at 10 °C fixed temperature.
The temperature was controlled accurately to 0.1 °C by a thermo-
stat DC 30 (Thermo Haake GmbH, Karlsruhe, D). A dependence of
both shear stress and apparent viscosity on shear rate as well as
the time dependence were observed in controlled rate mode. Dur-
ing measurement the following steps were carried out:
(1) the equilibration of sample temperature (10 °C, 10 min);
(2) the increase of shear rate from 0.1 to 100 s1 for 30 s;
(3) the constant shear rate (100 s1) action for 300 s;
(4) the decrease of shear rate from 100 to 0.1 s1 for 300 s.
An initial and a final apparent viscosity (mPa s) at a shear rate
100 s1 were evaluated from the time dependence curve obtained
at the third step. The decreasing shear curve was correlated by the
Herschel–Bulkley model according to the following:

s ¼ s0 þ K  cn ð1Þ
where s0 is yield stress (Pa), K consistency coefficient (Pa sn) and n is
flow behaviour index.
2.4. The functional properties analysis
The samples of cream were refrigerated for 24 h at 5 °C to pro-
mote fat crystallization to support the formation of foam structure
during whipping (Smith et al., 2000a). Cream samples (170 ml)
were whipped in a glass bowl (600 ml) using an ETA 1043 auto-
matic mixer (ETA a.s., Hlinsko, CZ) with a double beater system
at the maximum rotational velocity. Samples were whipped to
an acceptable foam firmness, which was recognised by sharp inter-
face between whisks and foam. The whipping time is referred to as
whippability (s). Overrun is defined as volume of air related to vol-
ume of cream. The equal volumes of whipped and unwhipped
cream were weighed and overrun was calculated as volume of
air in foam related to volume of cream according to the following
equation:
Overrun% ¼ 100  ðweight of unwhipped cream
 weight of whipped creamÞ
=weight of whipped cream:
The firmness of whipped cream was determined by texture anal-
ysis using TA.XT.plus (Stable Micro Systems Ltd., Godalming, UK).
The firmness is defined as the force (N) necessary to puncture the
cylindrical probe (diameter 20 mm) into the depth 10 mm of the
foam sample with constant rate 1 mm/s. The three independent
punctures were made in each sample of foam. The stability of the
foam was measured by leakage of liquid after 2 h at 20 °C and 75%
R.H. Directly after whipping, the 80 g of foam was placed on a metal
small sieve and the amount the leakage liquid after 2 h’ storage was
weighed. The stability of whipped cream was calculated as a per-
centage (w/w) of cream, which remains as the foam. Two determi-
nations of functional properties were always performed.
2.5. Evaluation of colloidal stability
The colloidal stability was evaluated as the sedimentation sta-
bility during 2 months storage. Samples were preserved by sodium
 R. Kováčová et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 471–478 473

azide addition (0.5 g/l), poured into glass tubes with a scale, cov-
ered with Parafilm and put in two thermostats (5 and 20 °C). The
amount of milk plasma released due to milk fat creaming was ob-
served and expressed as the volume percentage (Plasma pha-
se% = 100  (the volume of the released plasma/the total volume
of sample in the tube)). Results, displayed in Fig. 6, represent the
mean of two replicates in two trials.
2.6. Statistical analysis
The statistical significance of influence of processing and j-car-
rageenan concentration on observed values was determined by
two-way ANOVA using STATISTICA for Windows Release 4.3 (Stat-
Soft Inc., Tulsa, OK, USA). The differences between values of two
samples were analysed by t-test using spreadsheet function of
Microsoft Office Excel 2003. The statistical analysis was performed
at a confidence level of 95% (the probability of a zero hypothesis
P < 0.05).
3. Results and discussion
The size distribution of fat globules, their clusters and casein
micelles aggregates were observed by laser diffraction and in
Fig. 1 some of their size distributions are displayed. Complete data,
expressed as volume weighted mean diameter, are presented and
compared in Fig. 2. From the results of the ANOVA test, the size
of fat globules was statistically significant influenced by processing
(P < 0.001), while the j-carrageenan concentration did not have ef-
fect (P > 0.05). Generally, the fat globules in cream are within the
size range 0.1–20 lm (Walstra et al., 1999), which is consistent
with displayed results for pasteurised and UHT creams regardless
of carrageenan content (Fig. 1A and C). According to our expecta-
tion the diameter of fat globules decreased significantly by homog-
enisation for all samples including higher concentration of
carrageenan. A slight decrease of fat globules size (P < 0.01) was
also found for UHT treated cream (Figs. 1A, C and 2A). This result
is probably due to back-pressure valve action (0.4 MPa), which is
necessary to prevent boiling during heating of cream at 136 °C.
The comparison of Fig. 1A with B indicates that the aggregates
occurred in homogenised cream, because the clusters of fat glob-
ules were produced by homogenisation. The j-carrageenan in
cream resulted the appearance of casein–carrageenan aggregates
of microgel with particle size range 10–100 lm (Figs. 1D and 2B),
as it was reported by Ji et al. (2008). The statistically significant ef-
fect (P < 0.001) of both the processing and j-carrageenan concen-
tration on particle size of the aggregates was confirmed by
ANOVA. According to our expectation, the particles were larger
by higher carrageenan concentration which was promoted by
UHT treatment (P < 0.05), similarly, as it was reported by Sedlmeyer

A 0% κ-carrageenan; fat globules

B 0% κ-carrageenan; fat globules & casein
Particle Size Distribution Particle Size Distribution
16 16
UHT
14 14
P UHT P
12 12
Volume (%)

10 10
Volume (%)

UHT+H UHT+H
8 8

6 6

4 4

2 2

0 0
0.1 1 10 100 200 0.1 1 10 100 200
Particle Size (µm) Particle Size (µm)

C 0.04% κ-carrageenan; fat globules D 0.04% κ-carrageenan; fat globules & casein
Particle Size Distribution Particle Size Distribution
16 16
UHT
14 14

12 12
P
Volume (%)

10 10
Volume (%)

UHT+H UHT+H
8 8
P UHT
6 6

4 4

2 2

0 0
0.1 1 10 100 200 0.1 1 10 100 200
Particle Size (µm) Particle Size (µm)

Fig. 1. Influence of processing on particle size distribution of fat globules (A and C) and fat globules together with casein micelles and their aggregates (B and D) in whipping
cream without carrageenan (A and B) and with 0.04% j-carrageenan addition (C and D). Pasteurisation (P), UHT treatment (UHT) and UHT with homogenisation (UHT + H).
474 R. Kováčová et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 471–478

A Fat globules B Fat globules & casein

10 20
Carrageenan content:
9 18
0% 0.02% 0.04%
8 16
7 14
6 12
d4,3 (μm)

d4,3 (μm)
5 10
4 8
3 6
2 4

1 2

0 0
Pasteurisation UHT UHT + Pasteurisation UHT UHT +
homogenisation homogenisation
Processing type Processing type

Fig. 2. Influence of processing and j-carrageenan addition on mean particle size of fat globules (A) and fat globules together with casein micelles and their aggregates (B) of
whipping cream samples. The error bars indicate the interval of two replicate batches.

Fig. 3. Microscopic observations of influence of processing and j-carrageenan addition on size of fat globules and their clusters (bar = 10 lm).
 R. Kováčová et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 471–478 475

A 1000 1000 1000

Shear stress (Pa) 100 100 100

Shear stress (Pa)

Shear stress (Pa)

10 10 10

1 1 1

0.1 0.1 0.1

0.01 0.01 0.01

0.001 0.001 0.001

0.1 1 10 100 0.1 1 10 100 0.1 1 10 100
Shear rate (1/s) Shear rate (1/s) Shear rate (1/s)

B 1000 1000 1000

100 100 100
Shear stress (Pa)

Shear stress (Pa)

Shear stress (Pa)

10 10 10
1 1 1
0.1 0.1 0.1
0.01 0.01 0.01
0.001 0.001 0.001
0.1 1 10 100 0.1 1 10 100 0.1 1 10 100
Shear rate (1/s) Shear rate (1/s) Shear rate (1/s)

Fig. 4. Influence of processing and j-carrageenan addition on flow behaviour of whipping cream samples: without carrageenan (A) and with 0.04% j-carrageenan addition
(B); pasteurisation (D), UHT (h) and UHT with homogenisation (s); an increasing (empty symbols) and decreasing (full symbols) shear rate.

A 0% carrageenan
10 000
final viscosity decrease
Apparent viscosity (mPa.s)

1 000

100

10

1
Pasteurisation UHT UHT+homogenisation
Processing type

B 0.02% carrageenan C 0.04% carrageenan

10 000 10 000
final viscosity decrease final viscosity decrease
Apparent viscosity (mPa.s)

Apparent viscosity (mPa.s)

1 000 1 000

100 100

10 10

1 1
Pasteurisation UHT UHT+homogenisation Pasteurisation UHT UHT+homogenisation
Processing type Processing type

Fig. 5. Influence of processing and j-carrageenan addition on apparent viscosity of cream samples (shear rate 100 s1, duration 5 min). The time dependence is displayed as
empty parts of columns. The error bars indicate the interval of two replicate batches.
476 R. Kováčová et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 471–478

Table 1 and Kulozik (2006). However, it was possible to observe in homog-

Influence of processing and j-carrageenan addition on flow properties of whipping enised cream with a higher j-carrageenan concentration that the
cream.
influence of fat globule clusters was dominant in size distribution
Carrageenan Processing Herschel–Bulkley model of a decreasing (Fig. 1D). That was caused by consecution of these actions: fat
content (%) shear rate flow curve globule clusters are produced before aggregation of carrageenan
s0 (mPa) K (mPa sn) n () with casein micelles. This was also confirmed by microscoping
0 Pasteurisation 4.3 ± 1.5 a
15.7 ± 5.6a,b 0.983 ± 0.040a observations. As it is possible see in Fig. 3, homogenisation really
UHT 2.7 ± 1.3a 9.7 ± 1.4a 1.020 ± 0.030a significantly decreased the fat globules size; nevertheless, they
UHT with 51.0 ± 3.5c 40.8 ± 21.1b 1.306 ± 0.014b formed clusters, which had large size for higher carrageenan
homogenisation
concentration.
0.02 Pasteurisation 11.4 ± 4.1b 64.7 ± 7.4c 0.826 ± 0.006c The viscosity and rheological properties were determined by
UHT 43.1 ± 7.1c 95.1 ± 8.4d 0.773 ± 0.011d
rotational rheometer. The results, displayed in Figs. 4 and 5, show
UHT with NA NA NA
homogenisation that especially the homogenisation significantly increased appar-
ent viscosity at a shear rate 100 s1 and it was also influenced by
0.04 Pasteurisation 166 ± 7d 249 ± 9e 0.681 ± 0.005e
UHT 398 ± 4e 353 ± 3f 0.641 ± 0.002f both adding of j-carrageenan and UHT treatment. The statistically
UHT with NA NA NA significant effect (P < 0.001) of both the processing and j-carra-
homogenisation geenan concentration on initial and final apparent viscosity at
NA – did not meet the Herschel–Bulkley model because of the sigmoid character of shear rate 100 s1 was verified by ANOVA. Non-Newtonian flow
flow curve; ±standard deviation of two duplicate measurements of two batches behaviour was observed at all samples (Fig. 4). The similar behav-
(n = 4). iour was observed for increasing and decreasing shear curves of
Measurements with different letters are significantly different (P < 0.05). both pasteurised and UHT treated cream without carrageenan (it
means time independent behaviour), which corresponds with

A 5 °C; 0% κ-carrageenan D 20 °C; 0% κ-carrageenan

60 60

50 50
Plasma phase (%)

Plasma phase (%)

40 40

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Storage time (days) Storage time (days)

B 5 °C; 0.02% κ-carrageenan E 20 °C; 0.02% κ-carrageenan

60 60

50 50
Plasma phase (%)

Plasma phase (%)

40 40

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Storage time (days) Storage time (days)

C 5 °C; 0.04% κ-carrageenan F 20 °C; 0.04% κ-carrageenan

60 60

50 50
Plasma phase (%)

Plasma phase (%)

40 40

30 30

20 20

10 10

0 0
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 0 10 20 30 40 50 60
Storage time (days) Storage time (days)

Fig. 6. Influence of processing and j-carrageenan addition on the creaming of whipping cream samples during storage at 5 °C (A–C) and 20 °C (D–F); pasteurisation (D), UHT
(h) and UHT with homogenisation (s). Milk plasma release was related to the total volume of sample in the graduated tube. Each curve represents the mean of duplicate
trials. The error bars indicate the interval of duplicate measurements.
 R. Kováčová et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 471–478 477

results obtained from time dependence of apparent viscosity of
these samples on shearing at the constant shear rate 100 s1
(Fig. 5). Thixotropic behaviour was observed both by adding j-car-
rageenan and processing, especially homogenisation, because of
clusters breaking and deformation by shear rate. Slightly antithixo-
tropic (rheopexial) behaviour was observed at reference cream (0%
carrageenan, untreated), probably aggregates were slightly pro-
duced by shear rate action.
The Herschel–Bulkley model was chosen for mathematical
description of flow behaviour which parameters are presented in
Table 1. It was found that yield stress (s0) as well as consistency
coefficient (K) increased both by adding j-carrageenan and by its
concentration, while flow behaviour index (n) was decreasing.
The UHT treatment did not have a conclusive influence on param-
eters of the flow curve of cream without carrageenan; however
with carrageenan, it significantly raised both the yield stress (s0)
and consistency coefficient (K), while flow behaviour index (n)
was decreased. Regrettably, it was not possible to evaluate the
influence of homogenisation by this manner, because there was
observed a sigmoid behaviour of flow curves for homogenised
samples with carrageenan, which did not meet the Herschel–Bulk-
ley model (Fig. 4B). Nevertheless, the homogenisation of cream is
well known to produce wide clustering of fat globules and so to
raise the viscosity (Walstra et al., 1999). Indeed, the homogenisa-
tion of cream without carrageenan dramatically increased all
parameters of the Herschel–Bulkley model (Table 1), which is
shown on that clustering similar to our results of particle size
determination.
Orientation evaluation of colloidal stability was performed at
two temperatures, 5 and 20 °C, as two common ways of storage
for commercial whipping cream. Volume (ml) of released milk
plasma was observed as a function of time during 2 months. We
can suggest according to Fig. 6 that at both temperatures similar
changes are occurring but the rate of these changes is significantly
increased at a higher temperature. This test demonstrated that
homogenisation significantly increased stability during storage
and milk plasma release was minimised in combination with j-
carrageenan addition, in spite of the fact of large size of fat globules
clusters. This satisfactory result was not dependent on concentra-
tion of added carrageenan. We can suggest that fat globule clusters
were so large that they were chafing against themselves and this
caused an over mentioned significant increase of viscosity and
helped to prevent creaming during storage. The increasing of par-
ticle density by casein and carrageenan binding is possible too. The
UHT treatment caused middle stability. This influence was compa-
rable for all samples and it was probably caused by over mentioned
partially homogenisation, which was due to the back-pressure
valve action.

A 180 B 180

Carrageenan content: Carrageenan content: 0% 0.02% 0.04%

160 160
0% 0.02% 0.04%
140 140
Whipping time (s)

120 120
Overrun (%)

100 100

80 80

60 60

40 40

20 20

0 0
Pasteurisation UHT UHT+Homogenisation Pasteurisation UHT UHT+Homogenisation
Processing type Processing type

C 100
D 0.7

0.6
90

0.5
Stability (% w/w)

Firmness (N)

80
0.4

0.3
70

0.2

60
0.1

50 0
Pasteurisation UHT UHT+Homogenisation Pasteurisation UHT UHT+Homogenisation
Processing type Processing type

Fig. 7. Influence of processing and j-carrageenan addition on functional properties of whipping cream: whippability (A), overrun of whipped cream (B), stability after
whipping (C) and firmness of whipped cream (D). The error bars indicate the interval of two replicate batches.
478 R. Kováčová et al. / Journal of Food Engineering 99 (2010) 471–478
The aim of the other part of this experiment was to evaluate
the functional properties of foam, which was prepared from
cream. Fig. 7 shows a summary of these results. According to
the results of the ANOVA test, the whippability (whipping time)
was significantly influenced by processing (P < 0.001), while the
j-carrageenan concentration did not affect it (P > 0.05). The whip-
pability was the most importantly impaired by homogenisation as
was widely described (Bylund, 1995; Everett, 2007; Walstra et al.,
1999). However, there were no problems observed with the whip-
ping of cream, like a churching. Only the time of whipping was
slightly prolonged by UHT treatment and 2.5–3 times by homog-
enisation. Slight prolongation of whipping time by UHT treatment
was also reported in work from Bruhn and Bruhn (1988) where
they explained it as changes in the fat globule membrane. But
electrophoresis results of Smith et al. (2000b) showed no signifi-
cant change in protein composition on the milk fat globule mem-
brane because of heat treatment. The impairment in this work
may be due to decrease of fat globule size by back-pressure valve
action.
The overrun (Fig. 7B) was not significantly (P > 0.05) influenced
both by processing and adding carrageenan. However, the results
are unreliable because of data deviation.
Furthermore, the foam stability was significantly influenced by
j-carrageenan concentration (P < 0.001), while the processing did
not affect it (P > 0.05). The stability of whipped cream was demon-
strably improved with an increase of j-carrageenan concentration
because of the water binding effect of carrageenan (Fig. 7C).
The statistically significant effect of both the processing
(P < 0.001) and j-carrageenan concentration (P < 0.01) on firmness
of whipped cream was confirmed by ANOVA. The variability of
data (Fig. 7D) was caused by different results of batches, neverthe-
less there were similar trends observed. Firmness of whipped
cream was influenced by fat globules aggregation (Smith et al.,
2000a; Walstra et al., 1999). j-Carrageenan inhibited aggregation
in pasteurised and UHT treated samples, but homogenised samples
with j-carrageenan showed an increase of firmness because clus-
ters were already produced in homogenisation process. However,
the homogenisation had negative effect on firmness of whipped
cream without carrageenan.
4. Conclusion
The influence of UHT treatment and homogenisation on rheo-
logical and functional properties of whipping cream (30% fat con-
tent) in relation to adding j-carrageenan was characterised. The
particle size distribution was only slightly influenced by UHT treat-
ment. The diameter of fat globule decreased significantly by
homogenisation. However, clusters were produced immediately
and before carrageenan–casein micelles aggregates. The increase
in viscosity and thixotropic behaviour was observed both by add-
ing j-carrageenan and processing, especially homogenisation, be-
cause of clusters breaking and deformation by a shear rate. The
fat globule clusters were large enough and concentrated to chafe
against themselves and prevent creaming during storage. The
whippability (whipping time) was significantly impaired by
homogenisation but only the time of whipping was prolonged by
homogenisation, no churching was observed. The stability of
whipped foam was demonstrably improved with growth of j-car-
rageenan concentration. The results demonstrated a positive influ-
ence of j-carrageenan addition on whipping cream functional
properties.
Acknowledgements
This work was supported by funding of Ministry of Education,
Youth and Sports (MSM 6046137305). TRUMF International s.r.o.,
Czech Republic is gratefully acknowledged for its cooperation.
References
Bixler, H.J., Johndro, K., Falshaw, R., 2001. Kappa-2 carrageenan: structure and
performance of commercial extracts: II. Performance in two simulated dairy
applications. Food Hydrocolloids 15 (4–6), 619–630.
Bruhn, C.M., Bruhn, J.C., 1988. Observations on the whipping characteristics of
cream. Journal of Dairy Science 71 (3), 857–862.
Bylund, G., 1995. Dairy Processing Handbook. Tetra Pak Processing Systems AB,
Lund. pp. 207–209.
Camacho, M.M., Martínez-Navarrete, N., Chiralt, A., 1998. Influence of locust bean
gum/kÙcarrageenan mixtures on whipping and mechanical properties and
stability of dairy creams. Food Research International 31 (9), 653–658.
Everett, D.W., 2007. Cream products. In: Hui, Y.H. (Ed.), Handbook of Food Products
Manufacturing. John Wiley & Sons Inc, pp. 725–749.
Falshow, R., Bixler, H.J., Johndro, K., 2001. Structure and performance of commercial
kappaÙ2 carrageenan extracts I. Structure analysis. Food Hydrocolloids 15 (4–
6), 441–452.
Goff, H.D., 1997. Instability and partial coalescence in whippable dairy emulsions.
Journal of Dairy Science 80 (10), 2620–2630.
Ji, S., Corredig, M., Goff, H.D., 2008. Aggregation of casein micelles and k-
carrageenan in reconstituted skim milk. Food Hydrocolloids 22 (1), 56–64.
Michalski, M.C., Briard, V., Michel, F., 2001. Optical parameters of milk fat globules
for laser light scattering measurements. Lait 81 (6), 787–796.
Michalski, M.C., Michel, F., Geneste, Ch., 2002. Appearance of submicronic particles
in the milk fat globule size distribution upon mechanical treatments. Lait 82 (2),
193–208.
Sedlmeyer, F., Kulozik, U., 2006. Impact of process conditions on the rheological
detectable structure of UHT treated milk protein–carrageenan systems. Journal
of Food Engineering 77 (4), 943–950.
Smith, A.K., Goff, H.D., Kakuda, Y., 2000a. Microstructure and rheological properties
of whipped cream as affected by heat treatment and addition of stabilizer.
International Dairy Journal 10 (4), 295–301.
Smith, A.K., Kakuda, Y., Goff, H.D., 2000b. Changes in protein and fat structure in
whipped cream caused by heat treatment and addition of stabilizer to the
cream. Food Research International 33 (8), 697–706.
Stanley, D.W., Goff, H.D., Smith, A.K., 1996. Texture–structure relationships in
foamed dairy emulsions. Food Research International 29 (1), 1–13.
Walstra, P., Geurts, T.J., Noomen, A., Jellema, A., van Boekel, M.A.J.S., 1999. Dairy
Technology. Marcel Dekker, New York, pp. 411–415.