GELCOOK – The mechanism behind formation of cookable milk gels

Consumers are presently focusing on alternatives to meat, which can be served as part of a main meal. An already existing alternative is paneer, a South Asian dairy product produced by combined heat treatment and acidification. This combined processing promises in terms of producing milk-based alternatives to meat as it appears to enable creation of a good texture that it stable to most cooking techniques. However, there is a lack of basic understanding of the stability and microstructure of paneer and similar products.

By: Grith Mortensen

The purpose of the GELCOOK project is to understand the mechanisms for how a combination of heat treatment and acidification can ensure dairy products with good stability and the possibility of use as an alternative to meat.

The GELCOOK-project is an Indian-Danish collaboration, involving University of Copenhagen and the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in India as well as Arla Foods.