How to turn fresh milk into tofu flowers when it is hot
If you've ever heated fresh milk and found it turned into tofu flowers, then you must be curious about what this is all about. In fact, this condition is usually caused by the denaturation of the proteins in the milk. Let's take a look at the mystery.
First of all, we need to understand the basic composition of milk. Milk is mainly made up of water, fat, protein, and lactose. Among them, protein is one of the important components in milk, and they exist in a relatively stable state in milk. However, when milk is subjected to high temperatures, this steady state is broken, resulting in protein denaturation.
So, what is protein denaturation? To put it simply, denaturation refers to the change of the spatial conformation of a protein when it is affected by physical or chemical factors (such as high temperature, pH change, etc.), causing the protein to lose its original biological activity, thereby changing its properties and functions. In milk, high temperatures can cause proteins to denature, forming curds or tofu flowers.
Specifically, when fresh milk is heated to a certain temperature, the protein begins to lose its original stable state, becomes unstable and begins to aggregate. These aggregated protein particles gradually grow in size and eventually form a clot or tofu flower. This change not only affects the appearance and taste of the milk, but may also affect its nutritional value.
So, how to avoid fresh milk from turning into tofu after heating? First of all, it is necessary to choose fresh milk of good quality and avoid choosing expired or poor quality milk. Secondly, pay attention to temperature control when heating milk, and do not heat the milk to too high a temperature so as not to cause protein denaturation. If you want to drink hot milk, you can heat the fresh milk slightly to a lukewarm state, and do not boil or heat it for too long.
In conclusion, the fact that fresh milk turns into tofu after heating is caused by protein denaturation. In order to avoid this from happening, we should pay attention to choosing fresh milk of good quality and controlling the heating temperature. At the same time, understanding the principles of protein denaturation also helps us better understand the chemical changes and nutrient retention in food.