Lactose hydrolysis and milk homogenization effects on the pasty dulce de leche characteristics

Abstract

Lactose free dairy products have become increasingly recurrent in the market in recent years, due to the lactose intolerant people or even those who choose a restrictive diet without this carbohydrate. In the production of dulce de leche (DL), lactose hydrolysis promotes some modifications in the product, highlighting the intensification of the Maillard reaction, with a consequent increase in the concentration of an intermediate compound of this reaction, 5-hydroxymethylfurfural. The main consequences of lactose hydrolysis in dulce de leche are increasing of viscosity, darkness and sweetness. The process of milk homogenization   is a non-mandatory step for the production of DL, and aims to modify the microstructure of the product, generating a new organization of the matrix, originating mainly from the interactions between lipid compounds and milk proteins. So, this work aimed was to formulate of traditional dulce de leche and “lactose free” to evaluate the influence of hydrolysis of this carbohydrate and the process of homogenization of milk. Evaporation parameters (evaporation rate and total process time), free HMF and residual lactose quantification were performed. Lactose hydrolysis was the main factor that influenced the color of the products and the homogenization of milk did not have significant effect on the evaporation parameters monitored in this study, demonstrating that such an operation does not modify the processing conditions.