EFFECT OF MANUFACTURING VARIABLES ON THE TEXTURE OF BLENDS MADE WITH SCRAPED SURFACE HEAT-EXCHANGERS

The effects of scraped-surface-heat-exchanger process variables on the texture of milkfat - vegetable oil blends were investigated. The vari ables included product flow, coolant rate and amount of pin working, m ode of oil injection and product storage temperature. Low product flow rate resulted in blends that were about 10% softer than blends manufa ctured at a higher flow rate. The small differences among settings for the other process variables were not statistically significant. Parti al or full injection of vegetable oil after the first cooling stage re sulted in blends that were up to 40% softer than blends manufactured w hen oil was incorporated in the emulsion before processing. Storage te mperature cycling after processing, hardened the blends by up to 20% a nd generally reduced the differences observed among processing variabl es.