Influence of hydrodynamic cavitation on the rheological properties and microstructure of formulated Greek-style yogurts

With limited applications of acid whey generated during the manufacture of Greek yogurts, an alternate processing technology to sidestep the dewheying process was developed. Milk protein concentrate (MPC) and carbon dioxide-treated milk protein concentrate (TMPC) were used as sources of protein to fortify skim milk to 9% (wt/wt) protein for the manufacture of Greek-style yogurts (GSY). The GSY bases were inoculated and fermented with frozen direct vat set yogurt culture to a pH of 4.6. Owing to the difference in buffering of MPC and TMPC, GSY with TMPC and MPC exhibited different acidification kinetics, with GSY containing TMPC having a lower fermentation time. The GSY with TMPC had a titratable acidity of 1.45% lactic acid and was comparable to acidity of commercial Greek yogurt (CGY). Hydrodynamic cavitation at 4 different rotor speeds (0, 15, 30, and 60 Hz) as a postfermentation tool reduced the consistency coefficient (K) of GSY containing TMPC from 79.4 Pa·sn at 0 Hz to 17.59 Pa·sn at 60 Hz. Similarly for GSY containing MPC, K values decreased from 165.74 Pa·sn at 0 Hz to 53.04 Pa·sn at 60 Hz. The apparent viscosity (η100) was 0.25 Pa·s for GSY containing TMPC and 0.66 Pa·s for GSY containing MPC at 60 Hz. The CGY had a η100 value of 0.74 Pa·s. Small amplitude rheological analysis performed on GSY indicated a loss of elastic modulus dependency on frequency caused by the breakdown of protein interactions with increasing cavitator rotor speeds. A steady decrease in hardness and adhesiveness values of GSY was observed with increasing cavitational intensities. Numbers of grains with a perimeter of >1 mm of cavitated GSY with TMPC and MPC were 35 and 13 grains/g of yogurt, respectively, and were lower than 293 grains/g observed in CGY. The water-holding capacity of GSY was higher than that observed for a commercial strained Greek yogurt. The ability to scale up the process of hydrodynamic cavitation industrially, and the ease of controlling events of cavitation that can influence final textural properties of the product, make this technology promising for large-scale industrial application. Overall, the current set of experiments employed in the manufacture of GSY, which included the use of TMPC as a protein source in conjunction with hydrodynamic cavitation, could help achieve comparable titratable acidity values, rheological properties, and microstructure to that of a commercial strained Greek yogurt.