Butter, milk powder and other dairy products
Churning, spray drying and other ways from milk to durable products
Beyond cheese and soured products, dairy farming also covers the production of butter, buttermilk and milk powder — products where physical processes such as churning and evaporation play the main role over microbial fermentation.
§From cream to butter
Butter is made from cream by churning or in a continuous butter machine. The cream to be used for butter making typically undergoes high pasteurization — a more intensive heat treatment than ordinary consumption milk — to ensure shelf life and clean taste. During churning, the fat globules come together to form butter grains, while the remaining liquid is released as buttermilk, which is collected and used further, among other things in soured drinks.
| Product | Manufacturing method | By-product |
|---|---|---|
| Butter | Churning of (high-pasteurised) cream | Buttermilk |
| Milk powder | Evaporation and spray drying of milk | — |
| Ost | Coagulation with rennet or acid | Whey |
§Milk powder — milk without water
Milk powder, formerly called dried milk, is milk from which almost all liquid has been removed, leaving a dry powder. The process is typically done by spray drying: the milk is first concentrated, then the concentrated milk is sprayed into a tower of warm air where it breaks up into numerous fine droplets that dry almost instantly. The method preserves most of milk's natural properties while significantly extending shelf life because there is no free water left for microorganisms to grow.
- 01Milk is filtered and standardized in fat content after milking
- 02It is concentrated by evaporation before spray drying
- 03The spray tower converts the concentrated milk into fine droplets in warm air
- 04The finished powder is packed airtight to avoid moisture absorption
§Why milk powder still has a place
Milk powder is used both directly as a food and as an ingredient in others — from baked goods to infant formula — and it is also an important export product because it can withstand long transport without cooling. For the dairy worker, the process requires control of several steps: from correct standardization of fat content to careful control of temperature and air pressure in the spray tower.
§A trade with a broad range of products
It is precisely the wide range of products — from fresh consumer milk via cheese and butter to milk powder — that is part of what makes the dairy profession versatile. The physical and chemical principles recur across products but each product group places its own demands on temperature time and equipment.