Stabiliser-free cottage cheese, a thickened dairy liquid suitable for its production, and related methods

A heat-treated, thickened dairy liquid suitable for use as a cottage cheese dressing comprising:

• (i) added chloride salt of Na+, K+, and/or Ca2+,
• (ii) a total amount of carbohydrate-based stabilisers of at most 0.2% (w/w),
• (iii) a pH in the range of 6.0-8.0 at 20 degrees C.,
• (iv) a viscosity in the range of 20-400 cP at 5 degrees C., and
• (v) a total amount of Na+, K+, Ca2+, and Cl− in the range of 0.4-3.8% (w/w), and wherein the thickened dairy liquid is obtainable by a method comprising:
• (a) providing a liquid dairy base,
• (b) optionally, homogenizing the liquid dairy base,
• (c) heat-treating the liquid dairy base at a temperature of at least 70 degrees C. for a duration sufficient to obtain at least a factor 105 reduction in a number of colony forming units of the liquid dairy base, and
• (d) cooling the liquid dairy base to at most 10 degrees C., to obtain the thickened dairy liquid, and
• wherein said method furthermore comprises:
• adding a chloride salt of Na+, K+ and/or Ca2+ to the liquid dairy base before and/or after the heat-treatment of step (c) in an amount sufficient to obtain a total amount of added chloride salt of Na+, K+ and Ca2+ in a range of 0.1-3% (w/w) to thicken the heat-treated dairy liquid;
• further wherein said liquid dairy base provided in step (a) comprises
• (I) a pH in the range of 6.0-8.0,
• (II) milk fat, milk protein, and acid-gellable whey protein aggregates, and
• (III) a total amount of said acid-gellable whey protein aggregates in the range of 0.2-3% (w/w), and
• wherein:
• (1) said acid-gellable whey protein aggregates are denatured proteins provided by heat-denaturation of a demineralised whey protein solution having a pH in the range of 6.0-8.0,
• (2) said heat-denaturation is performed at a temperature of at least 68 degrees C. for at most 60 minutes with or without shear forces acting on the whey protein during the denaturation, and
• (3) said acid-gellable whey protein aggregates are quantifiable by measurement following a centrifugation of the liquid dairy base at 62000 g for 30 minutes and said acid-gellable whey protein aggregates remain in the supernatant after the centrifugation of the liquid dairy base.