Volantino

THEWIDEWORLD OF MILK AND ITS DERIVATIVES The term “milk” refers to the product obtained by milking cows in good health and nutrition. This definition is very important because it establishes that the term “milk” refers only to cow’s milk, while if we talk about other animals it must be clearly specified, for example goat or buffalo milk. In recent years, to satisfy the taste and needs of consumers, a great variety of types of milk has been introduced which are distinguished on the basis of: • shelf-life characteristics (fresh, medium and long-life milk); • fat content (whole, partly-skimmed and skimmed milk); • content of specific nutrients (milk enriched with vitamins, mineral salts, fatty acids, probiotics, fibres, etc.). Several products can be obtained from milk, commonly called dairy products or milk derivatives. Let’s look at the most important ones together: • Yoghurt and fermented milk - obtained from the fermentation of milk using selected microorganisms. The most consumed fermented milk in Italy is yoghurt which, by law, must be produced by adding two specific microorganisms called Lactobacillus delbrueckii subsp. bulgaricus and Streptococcus thermophilus; • Cheeses - obtained from the coagulation of milk proteins. The definition of “cheese” refers to a solid or semi-solid product, fresh or ripened, derived from the transformation of milk that typically comes from an animal raised for this purpose (cow, buffalo, sheep and goat). Using different milk processing and ripening techniques, hundreds of different types of cheese with characteristic sensory properties can be created. Mascarpone falls into the category of cheeses and is obtained by coagulating cream with the addition of citric acid; PASSPORT