Studies on the effect of heat treatment during processing on the viscosity and stability of high-fat market cream

Summary The viscosity of cream increased with increasing fat content, and higher values were obtained if the cream was separated at 38–43 °C rather than above 55 °C, and if the cream was cooled to below 15 °C before storage at 20 °C. The ‘type’ of viscosity varied with cooling and storage conditions; for example, cream cooled below 20 °C and stored at 20 °C gave increased viscosity readings with increased rates of shear due to churning of the cream, while the behaviour of cream cooled only to 20 °C was Newtonian. Cream stability as measured by free fat content decreased with increasing fat content above about 42%, with low temperature separation (38–45 °C), with cooling to below 15 °C before storage at 20 °C, and with increased pressure at temperatures below 15 °C. Dilatometric study of the amount of fat crystallization indicated that larger amounts of crystallization resulted in higher final viscosity and free fat content.