How To Prevent Milk From Curdling? – A Quick And Easy Guide
To prevent milk from curding there are several fixes. When you heat the milk make sure to heat it up slowly. Again always keep the milk in a clean vessel. Never mix highly acidic items such as vinegar, lemon juice, wine, etc. with the milk.
Well, this is not everything. You should also know how to prevent milk curdling from tea or coffee. In this article, I’ve discussed them in detail. So, keep on reading till the end.
What causes milk to curdle?
Before going into the discussion, let’s talk about the top ingredients of milk that allow milk to curdle. Milk contains water, carbohydrates, protein, minerals, etc.
The major ingredients are water, fat (3.8% fat for whole milk, 1% fat for fat milk, and skimmed milk with 0.4% fat), and protein (in cow milk 70.9% protein), an amino acid.
In addition that if we add lime, wine, and vinegar to milk it will make the milk more acidic.
Furthermore, the more acidic means the microorganism will increase which coagulates the protein means milk will curdle.
How temperature and Vessel can impact milk curdling?
01: Temperature
At normal temperatures, microorganisms grow up which helps to freeze the milk (converts lactose to lactic acid).
So when you heat the milk beyond 63 degrees Celsius temperature it prevents the increase of microorganisms not only prevents but also destroys the microorganism.
Also, below 5 degrees Celsius temperature it holds the aggregate of microorganisms. So to prevent curdling keep the milk below 5 degrees Celsius or heat it beyond 65 degrees Celsius. It may increase the shelf life of milk until 10 days.
Finally, the temperature is a major factor in milk curdling.
02: Sterilization of your Vessel
To avoid curdling the other important point is to sterilize your vessel. Sterilization means heating the milk as well as the container at 120 degrees Celsius for at least 20 minutes until the color will be light brown. This will kill the 100 % microorganism.
03: Effect of pH
If somehow the pH value will drop less than 4.68 that means the molecules of protein (casein) are attracting each other more. For that molecules are coagulate and curdling.
How can You Prevent Milk from curdling when you Cook It?
Curdling milk is drinkable but if you drink it directly it can damage your stomach. So, it is better to know how can you prevent milk from curdling when you cook it?
Now we are going to declare 4 easy ways to avoid milk from curdling. Let’s follow the steps to keep the milk well for a long time.
- Boil the milk: We know that below 65 degrees Celsius the milk is curdling slowly. To prevent milk from curdling in summer, boil the milk four times within 24 hours. Belong 65 degrees Celsius, the microorganism will destroy. For that protein can’t coagulate Moreover, in the last time of heating don’t flame the stove more. After completing the four boils, make sure that there is a little space between the lid and the vessels. It helps with ventilation.
- Use of clean vessel: Sometimes it seems that our vessel is clean, but it is not. For that, your milk can curdle. So, before boiling your milk makes sure your utensils are clean. If you have some little confusion then wash it with water. Afterward, heat the vessels and pour two or three spoons of water before milk which will help you prevent the milk from curdling.
- Heat slowly: Before heating the milk, keep in mind that heat the milk slowly. Because if you boil cold milk with high heat it will curdle. So, when you heat the milk, bring the temperature low to medium to low.
- Avoid strong acids: If the acidity of milk increases that means the number of Microorganisms will increase which helps to coagulate the protein (casein). So, avoid the addition of acids like vinegar, lemon juice, wine, etc. to prevent milk from Curdling. If you badly need to add those acidic products then add starch.
How do you know if milk has curdled?
Milk is a combination of vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates, protein, and good fats. All of them are important for health but if you drink bad or curdle milk straightly it can be the reason for food poisoning.
By the way, three ways we can say whether is it curdle milk or not. Those are
- Examine the Milk.
- Testing the acidity of Milk.
- Microwaving the Milk.
Let’s know about it all in detail.
01: Examine the milk
Firstly, check the packed date. It makes sure that it will last for 7 days beyond the sale. The lasting of milk depends upon the ingredients of fat and lactose.
However, fat-free milk can use 10 days after its expiration date. But if milk expired more than a week it is better to throw it out.
Secondly, smelling is the easiest way to tell if our milk is curdling or not. If milk like good but it has bad smelling. It means that the milk is not good. It curdles.
Thirdly, check the milk consistency. You may know that fresh or skim milk is thicker than creams or curdle milk.
So, pour the milk into a glass and if you see that it is not smooth then it curdles milk. You may also look into the container.
Finally, you also examine it by checking its color. Fresh milk has a pure, clean, and white color. In the case of curdling milk, it will have a yellowish color.
02: Testing the acidity of Milk
If your milk has a packed date but you have a little bit confused then you can test the acidity of milk. For that, you need 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Take the soda into a plate
Now, just two drops of milk drop into baking soda. If your milk is not good then baking soda show some bubbles of carbon dioxide as well as if your milk is well then it doesn’t show any reaction.
Note: It makes sure the baking soda is pure.
03: Microwaving the Milk
It is another method to examine the curdling of milk. For this test pour some milk into a microwave glass.
However, place the glass into a microwave and heat it to 30s not more than 60s. Then pour the milk into another glass and if the milk becomes lumpy then it is a curdled milk.
This way we can determine if our milk is curdling or not.
Is Curdle Milk Good or Bad for Health?
It is a question whose answer varies with the person because every person digesting is not worked at all.
But it is pretty sure that taking a little spoiled milk will not harm you. Accidentally if you drink a large amount of curdling it may damage your stomach. You may suffer from food poisoning problems like stomach pain, vomiting, diarrhea, etc.
At last, if your milk/curdles are too old then it is better to throw it out.
How to Prevent Milk from Curdling in Tea?
Let’s start with the solution – how to prevent milk from curdling in tea.
Is it possible?
I would like to reply with an affirmative, yes, it’s possible to prevent milk from curdling.
Here we put 3 steps to solve the problem.
Step 1: Warm the milk before making tea.
It is one of the methods to add milk to tea without curdling. Curdling in tea may occur during the temperature difference between tea and cold milk.
It happens because usually, we pour hot tea into cold milk. Due to this, the protein was coagulated and curdling take place.
But if you warm the milk by microwave in few seconds before making tea. Then the temperature difference between tea and fresh milk will decrease and curdling will not occur.
So, when you make a cup of tea. It makes sure that milk is heated before making tea.
Step 2: Use powder milk instead of liquid milk.
Another way to make the tea without curdling milk is that use powder milk instead of liquid milk. This is a pretty simple way.
For this method, you may add milk after the tea is complete or you can add milk powder into an empty tea cup. Then pour the tea into a teacup.
Which way you follow that’s not going to be curdling milk.
Step 3: Use tea from a teabag.
This is another method to prevent milk from curdling in tea. The process is almost the same just use a teabag in the place of granulate tea.
How to Prevent Milk from Curdling in Coffee?
Here is the way to prevent milk from curdling in coffee. To prevent it firstly use heat. After pouring coffee into your mug before pouring the milk. And heat your mug to 104 degrees temperature.
Then pour the milk into the Mug.
This way you can prevent milk from curdling in coffee.
How to Prevent Milk from Curdling in Tomato Soup?
To prevent curdling add some hard cream to the soup. Before adding milk to the soup heat the milk with hot liquid. You may add tomato and lemon juice to increase the acidity.
But never add milk with acidic ingredients. Before adding to the soup, preheat the milk at 194 degrees Fahrenheit. A low-temperature heat all creams slowly.
Before serving the soup add some salt with soup.
Note: Let’s avoid low-fat as well as skim milk because with more fat less probability to curdle.
How can you use Curdled Milk?
It is simple everybody can’t drink curdle milk because of its acidity as well as it can damage the stomach. But we can make different delicious and tasty food from it. Which is not too harmful to our health.
Now, we can prepare biscuits, pancakes, cornbread, and scones from curdling milk.
Also, we can use spoiled milk to make homemade cottages. blue cheese, farmer’s cheese, etc.
Frequently Ask Question
Q1 what causes curdling in milk?
The Curdling of milk depends upon the pH levels of milk. We know that when pH levels drop in the milk, it makes the milk more acidic.
Due to the increasing acidity, the amount of microorganisms is increased and the molecules attract each other more means curdling.
In addition, lemon juice, vinegar, and wine those increase acidity.
so, lemon juice, vinegar, and wine does curdle in milk.
Q2 Why is my milk curdling when I heat it?
Milk is a combination of water, carbohydrate, fat, protein, etc. When we heat milk all the top ingredients separate from the water and coagulate with each other except water.
Q3 Does Baking Soda Prevent Milk from Curdling?
We can say milk curdles when its pH level drops below 4.68. In the case of baking soda its pH is almost 9. so, baking soda prevents milk from curdling to hold the pH above 4.68.
Q4 Does lemon make milk curdle?
Yes. Lemon makes the milk curdle because lemon increases the acidity of milk which helps to coagulate the protein.
So, we can say lemon makes milk curdle.
Q5 Why does milk curdle when steamed?
When steam is provided the acidity of milk increases, proteins of the milk coagulate, and curdling occurs.
Q6 Why does milk curdle in the refrigerator?
When milk is in the refrigerator the pH drops and proteins are attracted to each other and separated from the water.
Q7 At what pH does milk curdle?
The milk curdles when its pH value drops more. When the value of pH drops below 4.1 it will start curdling.
Q8 Why does milk curdle in the microwave?
The milk curdles in the microwave because the microwave temperature is very high and it boils too rapidly. For that milk curdle in a microwave.
Final verdict
In a nutshell, we can say in our whole article we are discussing how to prevent milk from curdling and other contemporary topics. Which are help to understand all things easily.
I hope you found your optimistic answer and you can keep your milk from curdling.
Now, if you have any questions then you can put them in our comment box.
Thank You.