Hi Heat vs. Low Heat nonfat dry milk, some research

[Dave in AZ]

I’ve been doing some research reading on these lately, found a few good papers, thought others might like them. My main interest was actual data, not just anecdotal posts, showing a difference between “hi heat dry milk” sold by sausage makers, and “low heat dry milk”, normal stuff sold in all stores. Difference being production temperatures of 130ish vs. 160ish. It is said the low temp common version doesn’t bind sausage as well, leading to some posters saying not at all. Apparently preheat temperature prior to spray drying process changes the product protein structures, or nature of lactose. I wanted to see if one was superior in all sausage areas (water bindinf, gel formation, heat resistance to gel breakdown, flavor etc), or if LH had some benefits and might be superior or at least usable in certain uses. If LH performs better than carrot fiber, cornstarch, gelatin, or various gums for instance, then based on price it may still be a superior product to use.

My interest is based on using a lot of LH common dry milk in yogurt making, some for baking, and a desire to be able to use just one supply for yogurt and sausage. But primarily a desire to use the BEST supplies for my cooking, if I could find enough actual research to back that up.

Here is a nice research paper discussing ways to make treat LH dry milk powder using Radio frequency dielectric heating (RFDH), like an RF microwave, and end up with a LH product that could be used for all applications including normal HH ones. It looks like their results were very good for binding water, gelation, and emulsifying, some comparable HH product. There is a lot of info embedded on LH vs HH uses.

Here is a kinda link to the paper, and a few extracts of interest:
Journal of Dairy Science
Volume 102, Issue 2, February 2019, Pages 1096-1107
Research
Application of a dry heat treatment to enhance the functionality of low-heat nonfat dry milk

www dot sciencedirect dotcom slash science slash article slash pii slash S0022030218311305

“Typically, when making LH the skim milk undergoes a pre-heat treatment at 70°C for 15 s, compared with the skim milk for HH, which is subjected to heat conditions of 90 to 120°C for 1 to 5 min (Kelly et al., 2003). These different process conditions result in different functional properties in the resultant powders. For example, the LH possesses greater solubility and less cooked flavor, whereas the HH has greater gelation properties, heat stability, water binding, and water absorption (Kelly et al., 2003). Whereas LH is used mainly in yogurts, HH is preferred in the baking industry (Sharma et al., 2012).”

Looking for the Kelly et al 2003 paper, looks like a good source, will post if I find it, but all sources so far are $229 for their textbook…
processhead mrobisr might like.

[Dave in AZ]

From the A. Kelly et al reference, Manufacture and Properties of Milk Powders. From Advanced Dairy Chemistry I think, can only see chapter summary… $30 to view chapter, $229 to see whole book… want to read it, but not that much yet…
As will be discussed in Section 23.3, skim milk powder (SMP) is often
classified according to the heat treatment applied during preheating. There
are 3 principal heat categories: low heat (typically heated at 75°C for 15 sec);
medium heat (typically heated at 75°C for 1-3 min) and high heat (heated at
80°C for 30 min or 120°C for 1 min). Whole milk powder (WMP) is
generally not heat classified, but is heated at 85-95°C for several minutes
to ensure inactivation of indigenous lipase and to expose antioxidant
sulphydryl groups (Hols and van Mil, 1991).

[mrobisr]

Dave in AZ Thanks for the info.

[cdavis]

Dave in AZ good info. Thanks for sharing

[samspade]

And how does the heating method contribute or harm the sausage making?

[mrobisr]

samspade Please do not hold me to this, but I think I read somewhere that the heating destroys a certain enzyme in milk that inhibits the protein structure in both bread (bakers milk) and meat.

[Dave in AZ]

From what I read, the difference is only in what temperature the milk is pasteurized at before spray drying, its not a huge difference, like 145 vs. 190f. But apparently there are many changes during that temp hold to the proteins and lipids that end up giving LH and HH dry milk significantly different abilities to emusify, encapsulate fats, bind with meat protein, gel strength, ability of gel to retain water, lattice size of the protein structures when it sets as for yogurt or cheese curds, etc.

I probably read 5 hrs of various linked studies published in Dairy Science journal before my enthusiasm waned… now I am sure how ignorant of the science I am lol. But my takeaway is that yes, High Heat NonFat Dry Milk is a better binder for sausage than LH. If the price for bulk is reasonable, I will use it. However, I also saw the various numbers for LH NFDM, and it is certainly a good binder also, better than many others you could use. I will not hesitate to use normal grocery store NFDM if I don’t have the HH stuff, and will use it in preference to other things I have like carrot fiber, gelatin, corn or potato starch, agar gum, xantham gum. If I had the correct carageenan, think it is K, that would be my first choice.
By the way, the only places I could verify were actually selling HH dry milk, were Waltons, the Sausage Maker, and probably their bulk source supplier listed in a lot of the studies above.

[samspade]

Ok I read all the posts and thank you for the detailed explanations. I think for the home processor guy with 25# to grind, it really isn’t a deal breaker to use what’s available.