Milk is a product produced by the mammary glands of all female mammals. Most often, goat and whole cow milk is used for food, reindeer, mare, camel and elk milk are less popular.
Milk contains a large amount of minerals necessary for the normal functioning of the body of all growing mammals. Also, milk contains all the vitamins, carbohydrates, proteins and fats required by the young of a particular animal species.
Whole milk is called milk that has not been separated in order to reduce its natural fat content and remove water from it. Natural milk can only be called a whole product containing at least 2,8% of the mass fraction of protein and at least 2,6–6,0% of the mass fraction of fat.
The opposite of whole milk is the so-called reconstituted product made from dry powder diluted with water.
Whole milk should not contain any additives. When processing whole milk, pasteurization, sterilization, freezing and cooling are used, these processes allow maintaining the quality and freshness of the product for a certain period. When milk is rapidly cooled to 2–10 ° C, bacteria lose their ability to reproduce, the water contained in the milk crystallizes, moisture is distributed between the components of the product, and the concentration of substances dissolved in the liquid phase increases.
With the help of pasteurization of the product, pathogenic microflora is destroyed and enzymes are inactivated, which increases the shelf life of milk and excludes the possibility of infection. Whole milk is sterilized under high pressure at temperatures above 120 ° C for 15–20 minutes, which also extends its shelf life.
First of all, whole milk has an opaque, rich white (sometimes a little creamy) color.
Too liquid or transparent consistency, as well as a yellowish tinge indicate dilution of milk or the presence of a disease in the animal that gave this milk
After 5-8 hours, heavy heavy cream begins to form on the surface of high-quality whole milk, which can be skimmed off to thicken or stirred to mix with the rest of the milk. Also, whole milk does not smell of any pungent odors, only sometimes fresh milk can have a slight barn aroma that evaporates quickly.
And finally, whole milk must turn sour and turn into tasty and healthy yogurt, and boiled milk can be stored in the refrigerator for a whole week.