Whether you drink milk directly, use it as a ingredient in baking, or use it to make yogurt, heating milk, it is like an art no matter how you look at it!
You must accurately control the heat and temperature, pay close attention to whether it is about to boil, and stir it with a few helping hand to prevent boiling and overflowing.
Are you confused about the high-temperature and rapid heating of milk in certain recipes, and will cause the loss of nutrients in the milk? Are you confused about the pros and cons of various heating methods?
This time, Chenguang will give you all the answers at once!
How is pure milk disinfected in supermarkets?
Before explaining how to heat milk, you need to know one thing: most of all pure milk visible on the market use the "bus disinfection method" as a sterilization method. This disinfection method was invented in 1864 by French biologist Louis Pasteur and has been used to this day.
pure milk using bus disinfection method. In theory, as long as it has not been packaged before, it can be consumed directly. This is because this disinfection method is to first boil the pure milk at a temperature of 72℃-75℃ for 15 -30 seconds, then cool it to 4℃-5℃ immediately, so that the temperature changes just happen to eliminate the pathogenic bacteria in pure milk, so most people can drink it directly.
However, some bacteria will still remain in the pure milk after disinfection using this method. Therefore, if this pure milk is stored at room temperature, it will still deteriorate within 1-2 days, so most of them need to be stored in refrigerated. Nowadays, many pure milk have begun to use the "ultra-high temperature disinfection method" (UHT) and "high temperature instant sterilization method" for disinfection. Most imported pure milk will mostly use this method for disinfection.
Will the milk heated cause nutrient loss?
There have always been many debates about whether milk should be heated and consumed. For example, after heating milk, it will destroy the nutrients in it, or drinking warm milk will not cause diarrhea, stomachache, etc. Regarding these debates, Morning Light has its own different opinions, which may give you some more reasonable and well-founded views and perspectives.
is different from the traditional European and American people's concept of eating milk. Most Chinese people like to drink warm milk. This aspect is similar to our liking to drink warm water, but many people are afraid that heating will lead to the loss of nutrients in milk. You can actually rest assured about this.
Generally speaking, the main nutrients contained in milk, such as: sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc and vitamins, will not change or affect it because you heat it to 50℃-60℃. From a purely physical perspective, the boiling points of these minerals and vitamins are higher than you think. For example:
- sodium boiling point is: 882.8℃
- potassium boiling point is: 758.8℃
- calcium boiling point is: 1484 ℃
- The boiling point of vitamin C is: 553℃
How to perfectly heat a cup of milk?
If that's the case, how can we perfectly heat a glass of milk? In addition to the high-end industrial heating methods introduced by Chenguang, most of the households use the following three methods to heat milk: microwave oven heating, milk pot heating and waterproof heating. These methods are not absolutely good or bad. , Through the explanation of morning light, you can heat your pure milk according to your actual situation.
☆Microwave oven heating method☆
Let’s first talk about the simplest heating method: microwave heating. Due to the relationship between the microwave heating principle, it is very different from the traditional heating method. The heat of milk is expanded from the inside to the outside. , the most troublesome thing about heating this way is that it will make the milk suddenly boil, and there is no warning before.
To solve this problem, you need to control the heating time of the milk in the microwave and the power of the microwave. For 250 ml (1 bag) of milk, it can reach room temperature in a normal microwave oven in about 45 seconds, up to 2 minutes It may be boiled in half an hour.
So, Chenguang recommends that you take it out and stir it about every 15 seconds when heating it in a microwave. This will make the temperature of the milk rise more evenly and better grasp the temperature changes. Or adjust the power of the microwave oven to about 70% of the total power to slow down its heating speed. Although this is the best way to take it out and stir it every 15 seconds.
☆Milk pot heating method (open flame direct heating method)☆
is the method used by the elderly in the family. Use "small milk pot" to heat milk. To be honest, this is a very test of mastering the heat and temperature, and it is also The easiest way to boil milk. If you have to use this method to cook milk, you can pay attention to the following points to prevent the milk from boiling and splashing out.
is the first choice of pots. Pure metal pots are the easiest to boil milk because their thermal conductivity is too good. Therefore, if possible, it is recommended to choose pots like enamel, and the pot depth can be as deep as possible. The deep is the best. The thermal conductivity of this kind of pot will be lower, the heat requirement and fault tolerance will be much higher, and the deep pot will also give the milk more room to climb upward.
Another trick is to put a long-handled spoon in the milk pot, which can help eliminate the heat in the milk in the form of steam before boiling, so as to prevent boiling. This principle is because when milk reaches 40℃, the proteins in it will change in nature, which will form a thin protein fat film on the surface of the milk. This film will prevent the hot air from being released upwards in the milk. After the pressure reaches a certain level, it will overflow violently, forming a boiling situation.
☆ water bath heating method (indirect water bath heating)☆
Finally, the water bath method is used to heat the milk. This is the highest fault tolerance among the three methods and is also the relatively best method. If you can heat the milk for the baby, This method is also highly recommended to heat the milk. Simply put, it is not to let the milk come into direct contact with the heat source. This is a bit like heating with a steamer, but it is not just using water vapor as a heat source.
The specific operation method is relatively simple. You need a larger pot, a heat-resistant milk container smaller than the pot. It would be even better if there is a small rack that can be put into the pot. First add 3-4 cm deep water to the pot, and then slowly heat it over medium-low heat until it boils.
Slowly put the empty milk container into the pot, and try to keep the bottom of the container and the bottom of the pot as much as possible. Here, you can use a small rack or other utensils to separate the container from the bottom of the pot, and at the same time, make sure that the container can Contact the water in the pot. Then pour the milk into the container and slowly heat the water in the pot over low heat until the milk in the container reaches the temperature you want.
Key points and summary of heating milk
In general, no matter which method you use to heat milk, pay attention to these points to ensure that the nutrition of the milk will not be lost or deteriorated.
- Try to use low temperature to continuously heat the milk, give the milk a slow heating process to reduce the sudden release of pressure caused by excessive temperature inside.
- When heating milk, stirring regularly not only allows the internal heat to average up to all the milk, but also reduces the chance of overflowing when the milk pan is heated.
- separates the milk from the heat source and transfers the heat to the milk through a third party. This is the best heating method.
- Do not heat milk at high temperatures continuously. This will not only make the color, aroma and taste of the milk worse, but will also affect the body's absorption of nutrients in the milk. So just heat it until it is warm and do not boil it.
Can you drink milk on an empty stomach?
Finally, let’s talk about some extra tips, which is about the reasons why drinking milk on an empty stomach can cause vomiting or stomach pain and diarrhea. This situation actually has nothing to do with whether you are drinking cold or hot milk, and it also depends on whether you are drinking milk on an empty stomach. There is not necessarily a necessary connection.
The main "culprit" is a disease called " lactose intolerance". Some people will have insufficient "lactose enzyme", which will cause you to be unable to effectively digest and absorb the lactose in milk. ; Or the mucosa in the intestine is atrophy due to illness, which causes the amount of mixed bacteria in the intestine to become larger, causing the body's ability to decompose lactose into galactose, thereby causing the gastrointestinal tract to be unable to absorb lactose.
So, as long as you are not a patient with lactose intolerance, you can still drink milk on an empty stomach on an empty stomach. If you cause discomfort due to drinking milk on an empty stomach, you may need to pay attention to your gastrointestinal health problems.
