Cheese
Cheese is the perfect ingredient for product developers to use in dairy foods. Cheddar cheese is the obvious ingredient in cheese sauces and spreads. Cream cheese acts as a base for spreads and dips, while adding blue gives it some tang. Adding cheese to butter sauce increases viscosity and adds flavor and color.

Ideas

• Add small amounts of sharp cheese to lowfat spreads to increase flavor without many calories or fat
• Ethnic cheeses such as feta, when added to spreads or butters, appeal to the growing trend toward international cuisine
• Cheeses and butter serve as the perfect carriers for trendy herbs and spices

Suggested cheeses

• Blue
• Cheddar
• Colby
• Cottage
• Cream
• Fontina
• Gouda
• Mozzarella
• Parmesan
• Pasteurized Process American
• Provolone
• Ricotta
• Swiss

Concentrated and Dry Milk Ingredients

• Provide flavor and functionality in cheese, sour cream, ice cream and yogurt
• Form and stabilize emulsions
• Form rigid, heat-induced gels that hold water and fat, and provide structural support to dairy foods
• Provide water-binding properties, which may reduce the cost of food (since water is an inexpensive ingredient) and improve sensory perception
• Modify textural attributes in specific applications, such as improved viscosity in pasteurized process cheese or a firmer gel in yogurt
• Provide fatlike attributes such as lubricity and mouthfeel in reduced-fat formulations
• Help form stable foams, essential in products such as ice cream
• Enhance the color and appearance of dairy foods by providing opacity
• Boost the calcium and protein content of dairy foods—100 grams of nonfat dry milk contains 1,300 mg of calcium
• Milkfat present in concentrated and dry milk ingredients adds richness to certain dairy products

Lactose

• Binds volatile flavor components, reducing flavor loss during processing and storage to enable a reduction in added flavors and possible cost savings
• Contributes a sweetness that often enables a reduction in added sucrose
• Can contribute browning ability, protein-stabilizing qualities, alteration of crystallization, flavor enhancement, selective fermentation and nutritive qualities

Whey

• Improves overall product quality of dairy foods in such areas as flavor, texture, foam stability and moisture retention
• Aids in the dispersion of milkfat, which can help reduce fat levels in some formulas and prevent defects such as creaming, coalescence and oiling off
• Delivers exceptional nutritional value and high calcium—100 grams of sweet whey contains 770 mg of calcium and 100 grams of dry acid whey contains 2,280 mg of calcium
• Returns some of the milk solids lost during the cheesemaking operation to process cheese
• Contributes to opacity, especially in reduced-fat formulations
• WPC promotes emulsification in pasteurized process cheese foods, resulting in a smooth, creamy mouthfeel
• Whey proteins play a role in binding small volatile compounds such as alcohols, amines, aldehydes and ketones that provide the desired aroma and flavor, particularly in melted applications