The key difference between acid casein and rennet casein is that acid casein is manufactured by the direct acidification of skim milk, whereas rennet casein is manufactured by adding rennet to skim milk.
Acid casein and rennet casein are milk proteins with different functional properties. Casein can be separated, washed, and dried. Acid casein and rennet casein are two types of casein.
CONTENTS
1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What is Acid Casein
3. What is Rennet Casein
4. Acid Casein vs Rennet Casein in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Acid Casein vs Rennet Casein
What is Acid Casein?
Acid casein is a milk protein with different functional properties. Generally, fresh whole milk is skimmed and pasteurized to manufacture acid casein. This product gets an acidification of about 4.6 pH level, which is the so-called isoelectric point of casein. Casein can aggregate to form an acid coagulum of casein which is known as curd.
Figure 01: Protein found in Milk
Acid casein is useful in manufacturing processed and hard cheese, glazing agents for bakery products, meat sauces, and industrial applications, including labels, paper, glue, flooring, paints, plastics, and aluminum foil. The benefits of using this milk protein include its high protein content, emulsifier properties, replacements for MPC, and WPC.
Acid casein is not soluble in water, which limits some of its applications. To create a soluble casein product, the acid casein has to be neutralized with an alkali and then spray-dried to acquire caseinates. Many types of alkalis are used in this process. Calcium, sodium, and potassium caseinates are some of the most common types of caseinates available on the market.
What is Rennet Casein?
The rennet casein is a type of casein that is made by adding rennet to skim milk. This casein type is meant for food products that are obtained by washing and drying the remaining coagulum after the separation of the serum. Moreover, the casein content of rennet casein is 100%.
Rennet casein can make cheese firm enough to withstand cutting and grating constraints without clumping. When baking a pizza, rennet casein makes it possible to obtain a cheese that melts and spreads correctly while giving a smooth-flowing. In addition, the cheese remains stable after cooking thanks to rennet casein.
Figure 02: Cheese Production
Rennet casein has important uses since it has good melting properties and excellent emulsifier properties and improves texture, gives stretching power, and small-grained powder properties. The production of rennet casein is done by enzymatic precipitation of the casein from fresh pasteurized skimmed milk. The curd is then washed, dried, and milled to produce rennet casein powder of the required mesh size.
What is the Difference Between Acid Casein and Rennet Casein?
Casein can be separated, washed, and dried. There are two types of casein known as acid casein and rennet casein. These are two milk protein types. The key difference between acid casein and rennet casein is that acid casein is manufactured by the direct acidification of skim milk, whereas rennet casein is manufactured by adding rennet to skim milk. Moreover, the production of acid casein involves acidification, whereas the production of rennet casein does not involve acidification.
Below is a summary of the difference between acid casein and rennet casein in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.
Summary – Acid Casein vs Rennet Casein
Acid casein and rennet casein are two types of milk protein with different functional properties. The key difference between acid casein and rennet casein is that acid casein is manufactured by the direct acidification of skim milk, whereas rennet casein is manufactured by adding rennet to skim milk.
Reference:
1. “Rennet Casein.” Numidia, 22 May 2019, .
Image Courtesy:
1. “Casein” By Jhon Matthew O. Leron – Own work (CC BY-SA 4.0) via Commons Wikimedia
2. “Production of cheese 1” ByMatthiasKabel assumed (based on copyright claims). – No machine-readable source provided. Own work assumed (based on copyright claims). (CC BY-SA 3.0) via Commons Wikimedia