How is the pasteurization of milk?

A person is constantly striving to learn how to extend the life of products, but at the same time technologies are being developed that do not affect the useful properties.The pasteurization technology was discovered in the 19th century by a man named Louis Pasteur. It was he who became the founder of immunology and opened the possibility of heat treatment of products, which allows to significantly increase their shelf life.

Often, on the shelves of shops you can find milk and other products, which indicate that they are pasteurized. In fact, such a complex word just simply means that the milk has undergone heat treatment, that is, it is heated, but not re-boiled, because then it would lose its beneficial properties. It is enough to heat to 60 degrees and hold at that temperature for half an hour to destroy the bacteria. If the temperature reaches 80 degrees, then 20 minutes is enough.

This time is enough for some of the bacteria to die, and the other part to reduce activity.

Many young housewives do not know whether the product can be pasteurized at home and what is needed for this. Indeed, the pasteurization of milk at home is possible. They use not only a gas stove, but also an oven, it can even be pasteurized in a slow cooker.

If you buy milk in a “tetrapack”, then it is recommended to heat it not in a saucepan, but to place the packaging in a container with heated water. In fact, the process of pasteurization will be the same, only the beneficial properties will be preserved better, and the drink will undergo fewer changes. The process is carried out once, which is enough to protect themselves. Milk will not be better if it is constantly boiled, but there will be less and less useful properties each time.

As a good advice, it is recommended that fresh milk be cooled immediately, otherwise it will turn sour under its temperature after a few hours. It is best to keep the milk in the refrigerator in glass containers. But to keep the drink in metal and plastic containers is not recommended, because the materials can react with the liquid and give it negative qualities.

There is only one way to properly prepare pasteurized milk in a slow cooker, and this is due to the properties of household appliances. When the equipment appeared in the kitchen of the modern housewife, it made the process easier to do. Inside, great stews, cereals and more are cooked. It can also easily pasteurize milk without standing at the stove and not watching that it can escape. Moreover, it is not time that plays a decisive role, but the temperature during the heat treatment process, therefore, it is not easy to regulate the degree of heating.

Everything is easy with the slow cooker: there is a mode on the vehicle, the hostess only needs to set it and press the button. If homemade milk is processed, it is enough to set 80 degrees and set the timer to 20 minutes. New multicookers have an additional mode, which is called "pasteurization". It is only necessary to pour milk into the container, put it inside and press the corresponding button.

In order to keep the drink well even in a processed form, the dishes, where it is then poured for storage, must also undergo heat treatment. It is best to use glass jars that tightly close the lid.

Pasteurization is of several types, depending on what temperature it is carried out:

• long;
• ultra high temperature;
• short-term high-temperature.

The thirty minute heat treatment process is called long pasteurization. At the same time the temperature is kept at 60 degrees. In terms of the destruction of microorganisms, this is the most long-lasting, but also effective method.

It is impossible to perform high-temperature short-term processing at home, this type of pasteurization is typical for industrial facilities.The procedure requires special equipment that can heat the milk in a few minutes and cool it. One of the major drawbacks of this type of processing is accuracy: if the milk is not fully contained for a few seconds, then the microorganisms will not die, and if they are over-exposed, then it will lose all its beneficial properties.

This is one of the reasons why milk in pasteurized form differs in quality at various enterprises. Even different batches of drink from one plant may differ in their properties.

As for instant heating, it was first invented for mothers who have HIV, therefore they cannot feed their babies with breast milk. The method is available for use at home, and for implementation you will need to organize a water bath. Pasteurization will require 2 containers: one large and the other smaller. The first one is poured water and set on fire, the second one with milk is placed on water As soon as the first pan began to boil, you can remove the milk from the heat.

There are many opponents of the process of heat treatment of milk, who believe that at the time of heating it loses its useful properties and becomes useless for the human body. They argue that the pasteurized drink is necessary only to increase its shelf life and nothing more. From ignorance of many nuances, they, without knowing it, speak of sterilization, when the milk temperature reaches 100 degrees. Only in this case is the destruction of useful compounds, but not in the process of pasteurization, when the maximum temperature reaches 80 degrees.

You will learn more about how pasteurization of milk is carried out in the following video.