UNIVERSITAT POLITÈCNICA DE VALÈNCIA Desarrollo ... - RiuNet

38 I. Introducción
with great sensory attributes. Using UHPH allows for a longer shelf life of the
product, since greater physical stability is achieved mainly due to a reduction
in the size of the fat globule that prevents coalescence phenomena. Figure 3
shows pictures of hazelnut milk obtained by means of the Confocal laser
scanning microscopy (CLSM) technique in which the effect of UHPH is
proved; as can be seen, almost all the fat globules in untreated milk (Fig. 3A)
are coalesced, while in that which has been UHPH-treated (Fig. 3B), not only
are the fat globules non-coalesced but they are also distributed, forming a
kind of network that enhances physical stability. Sometimes homogenisation
pressures are also capable of reducing the microbial load of the product prior
to the thermal treatment, if they are greater than 200 MPa (Cruz et al., 2007;
Pereda et al., 2007; Valencia-Flores et al., 2013).
Figure 3. Confocal pictures of hazelnut milk non-treated (A) and homogenised
at 172 MPa (B), where fat globules appeared green-yellow coloured.
Source: personal compilation.