Whey Utilization and Whey Products

It always has been that way.Since about 5000 B.C. when man started cheesemaking, the secondary product, whey, has shown up to challenge him to put it to some use, any use initially as long as this yellowish-green, slightly sticky liquid was not there on the following day to plague him.During early centuries and into the recent past our forefathers, with primitive facilities and equipment, made a valiant effort to utilize whey in different forms.For example, in the middle ages whey was applied as a pharmaceutical drug, a component of soothing salves for burns, a skim balm, a potion to inspire vitality and to restore hair, but rarely was it used as a food for humans.As cheese grew in popularity, an increasing volume of fluid whey accompanied it for which there was little demand.It became customary to divert much of this mass of whey into the nearest stream or river, and many cheese factories were built over or near such waterways for this purpose.Little fuss was made of the resulting odor or lethal effects upon fish, which were competing for the available oxygen, until the age of conservation.Then the cheesemaker came face to face with strong new regulations prohibiting the dumping of whey, because of its corrosive nature, into streams and rivers and even into municipal sewerage systems.A new order evolved, and many chseesemakers who could not or would not adapt were to find their plants closed to production.Of course, some fluid whey over the years was fed to farm animals, spread over fields, or locally processed, but certain limitations of the period tended to restrain such outlets.In modern times the adaptable cheese manufacturer was faced with a need to understand the nature of whey, to concentrate or