Milk is an extremely healthy product with a number of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, fats and proteins. Also, due to its high calorie content, it is able to satisfy not only thirst, but also hunger. In stores, you can often find skim milk, which is obtained by separation. This procedure involves heating the milk to 45 degrees, as a result of which the cream is separated from the main liquid.
How is the process going?
With the help of separation, milk is divided into fat cream and skim product. Then proceed to the production of butter, sour cream and cottage cheese. Separation is a process that involves the following actions:
- Whole milk is poured into a specially purchased separator.
- Then the device begins to spin the drum, as a result of which fat is separated from the milk, which is displaced to the middle of the drum.
- On the other hand, skim milk is already coming out.
There is a separator with both manual control and electric. Therefore, any housewife has a choice: spend money on electricity or use manual labor.
Separator Tips
The new appliance must be washed, and before processing the milk, pour into the hot water separator. Its temperature should not be below 40 or above 50 degrees. In addition, milk should also be heated to 45 degrees. The separation of this product must be complete and thorough. Therefore, immediately after the first portion of skim milk comes out, it is returned to the device again. The fact is that in this portion there is still a lot of milk fat. In addition, it is desirable to ensure that the rotation speed of the drum is constantly at the same level.
If the separator does not have an automatic cleaning function, you will have to do everything manually and clean the device every two hours, stopping the separation process. It is also necessary in order not to provoke the growth of bacteria.
Oil making
The resulting milk cream is first subjected to pasteurization at a temperature of 90 degrees, then it is cooled and allowed to ripen. After separation, this product is heated, and then cooled to a very low temperature. Experts recommend taking such cream for cooking oil, in which the fat content is at least 30 percent. In the future, a special device will be needed for whipping oil - butter churn.
Cooking without a separator
Without this appliance, butter can be made from cream by settling. Typically, milk is poured into a separate wide container and sent to infuse for 20 hours. During this period, a fairly dense layer of fat floats on the surface of the milk, which is removed with a spoon.
However, this method has several disadvantages compared with separation. This is, firstly, the souring of the product. After all, it’s easy enough to miss the moment of souring milk, and in the end you can get sour cream and, accordingly, sour oil.
Secondly, this process is extremely long, and in the modern world such a waste of time is considered unacceptable. Even in small farms with a small number of cattle, an impressive amount of milk is accumulated daily. Therefore, you can’t do without a separator.
There are devices with a capacity of one hundred liters of milk per hour, and there are very small separators that process no more than 30 liters. In a word, everyone can choose the most suitable option for themselves and cook at home their own oil, natural, free from impurities and preservatives.