Preparation of Milk Gels by Incubating a Mixture of Milk and Ginger Juice

Abstract

　Milk gels were prepared by incubating a mixture of milk and ginger juice at different temperatures and incubation times. This was done to determine the effects of variation in temperature and incubation time on the hardness, adhesiveness, and cohesiveness of milk gels. Our results demonstrated that it was favorable to incubate the mixture for 30 minutes at 60-70℃, after mixing the milk and ginger juice by stirring. The hardness increased with additional heating to 80℃ after gel formation using ginger protease. Our findings suggest that it is possible to adjust the hardness of the gels by combining the enzyme reaction with heating. The hardness of the gel could be adjusted by addition of 1.5～2.0w/w% gelatin, therefore, gels prepared by a mixing milk and ginger juice have promising applications as food sources for elderly people or as foods for swallowing training.