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Post by LLY on Dec 26, 2017 11:03:49 GMT -5
Hi every one, I'm on the verge of reopening my business in the UK. According to my previous experience, when I caramelized the milk powder I got great and diverse products. Since I don't want to stand 90 minutes over a hot pot for 1 kg of caramelized powder, I ponder if there is a faster way using commercial machines. Is there a way to improvise? All I need is only heat and constant motion.
Appreciate any suggestions☺ Many thanks!
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Post by Thomas on Dec 26, 2017 12:19:03 GMT -5
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Post by LLY on Dec 28, 2017 10:27:49 GMT -5
Looks nice. This machine could address myriad of requirements for the average kitchen but still expensive for just carmelized milk powder. I will try to search for other similar products. If any other idea pop up please let me know😁 Many thanks!
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Post by cacaosublime on Dec 28, 2017 14:28:17 GMT -5
Hi LLY,
If you come across a nice piece of equipment for this purpose, please share here! I'd be interested to hear about it, might consider such equipment as well in the future.
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Post by Ben on Dec 28, 2017 14:50:28 GMT -5
I've never tried any of these, but here are a few different ways I've found to caramelize milk powder: In an oven - This is discussed as part of making ice cream. MicrowavePressure cookerOf the three, the pressure cooker seems like it would produce the most consistent results.
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Post by LLY on Dec 28, 2017 16:26:34 GMT -5
Ben,
Thank you for sharing your ideas. The main problem in carmelize milk powder (or maybe every caramel product?) is that it eastly burnt; thus, I found the oven method not adequate for this purpose. Microwave is intersting but maybe suitable for small quantities only? Pressure cooker sounds nice but how do you make sure all the water evaporated?
It will be intersting to know how the carmelization of commercial quantities takes place? Or if it's possible to devise a simple machine that can do it🤔
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Post by kenhmm on Dec 28, 2017 17:08:51 GMT -5
I tried the pressure cooker method, it works really well, producing even caramelization throughout the jar. Haven't tried it in chocolate yet, but it's on my bucket list for some time now. There was a catch, though: the milk powder solidified into a single block in the jar and I had a hard time chiseling it out from the jar. I used 1% fat milk powder instead of non-fat (at Ideas in Food they used non-fat; it's mentioned down in the comments), because that's what's readily available in the grocery stores around here; perhaps this was the cause of the solidification. Pressure cooker sounds nice but how do you make sure all the water evaporated? The milk powder is sealed in a dry jar, it doesn't get wet.
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Post by cacaosublime on Jan 4, 2018 13:55:20 GMT -5
kenhmm: What kind of jar did you use, and how tight did you screw the lid on? I'm thinking about trying out this method, but am not sure about the pressure difference that would be created between the inside and outside of the jar. At Ideas in Food they mention that they loosely screwed the lid on, and that 'after cooking' the lid will close and seal off the jar. But I'd expect steam coming in once the pressure has equalized. How is your experience in this regard?
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Post by kenhmm on Jan 5, 2018 7:49:17 GMT -5
I presume at Ideas in Food they used ordinary mason jars, for which instructions usually include fingertip tightening the lid, and indeed it's possible to only fingertip tighten the lid. Since I live in Europe, I use what more commonly available here: either Weck jars or what the Germans call "Sturzgläser" with 82mm Twist-off lids ( link), and "loosely screwed" lid is not applicable to these. Look at the threads of the Sturzgläser on the link: there is less than 60° turn between fully open and fully closed (as opposed to the more than a full turn with mason jars), so I fully tighten the lids. And Weck jars don't even have a thread to begin with, the lid is secured with clamps. In my experience, when pressure cooking certain thicker liquids or liquids prone to foam, a small amount of product usually escapes the jars, no matter how strong I tightened the lid. This tells me that if something wants to get ouf the jar, it certainly can, even with the pressure cooker operating at full pressure. I haven't had a single jar exploding on my yet (touch wood). I don't know whether this applies to mason jars as well. I don't think that a jar can be overpressurized when pressure cooking dry goods or that a considerable amount of steam can get into the jars. Warning, some physics ramblings ahead. A mere 1gram or 1ml of water turns into over 1.6liter of steam at atmospheric pressure. This means that water turning into steam is responsible for the great majority of pressure increase in the jar, and later during cooling the remaining steam condensing back to water will cause the vaccuum that keeps the lid sealed. Milk powder is a dry product, so there is basically no water in it to be turned into steam, therefore the pressure increase in the jar can only come from the inside air trying to expand as it's heated from room temp (20°C or 293Kelvin) to ~120°C (393K). That's only about 0.3bar pressure increase inside the jar, while a pressure cooker at full pressure operates at ~1bar over atmospheric pressure, keeping the lid sealed during cooking. My experiences about pressure cooking various liquids and dry goods in jars seem to confirm this. After pressure cooking any liquid in a jar, I usually have a hard time opening the lid because of the strong vacuum inside. However, after pressure cooking dry goods like milk powder or cocoa powder, I can usually open the previously fully tightened lid with little effort, meaning that there was no strong vacuum, indicating that there could have been only negligible amount of steam, if any, inside.
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Post by cacaosublime on Jan 5, 2018 12:20:26 GMT -5
Thanks for the thorough explanation! I'm in Europe as well, so have easy access to the mentioned jars. This will go on my to-do list
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Post by Brad on Feb 2, 2018 2:36:21 GMT -5
Another option would be simply to buy it. I googled "Carmelized Milk Powder" and lots of options came up. This company is located in Buffalo New York: liusa.com/products/caralac-whey-powder/They offer carmelized whey, carmelized skim, and carmelized whole milk powder as well. Believe it or not, it's easier to make carmelized milk powder than non-carmelized due to the drying process (drum drying). In the US, drum dried milk powder is supposedly more common than spray dried. Cheers.
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Post by Rebecca on Feb 5, 2018 12:09:05 GMT -5
Given the nature of it, being easy to burn, may be best to take the time to pour over a hot oven to get the level you want. I've discovered from experience it's not something you can rush. Just take it a small amount at a time.
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Post by Sebastian on Feb 24, 2018 9:34:48 GMT -5
There's only one drum dried milk producer in the US that i'm aware of - Verndale milk products in Michigan - spray dried is the defacto standard in the US, due to some historic food safety issues in the roller dried industry, and throughput/costing. Roller dried milk does - in my opinion - offer a better flavor, and will almost always have more 'free milk fat' available, even if the total fat is the same % as spray dried milk products.
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Post by mark on Feb 28, 2018 17:27:07 GMT -5
Sebastian, do you have any idea about Aussie milk powder producers? Drum or spray?
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Post by LLY on Mar 11, 2018 14:43:15 GMT -5
I'm concern slightly about the hygroscopic properties of product like that after the package is open. Furthermore, I'm not sure that there is an option to buy it in the UK.
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