Patent ID: 7250183

Claim:
A method for producing a cream cheese product having significantly reduced levels of casein, said method comprising: (i) preparing an aqueous suspension having a protein concentration of about 5 to about 20 percent from water and a whey protein concentrate; adjusting the pH of the aqueous suspension, if necessary, to a pH of about 7 to about 9; and heating the aqueous suspension in a single heat treatment step to a temperature of about 70 to about 95° C. for a time sufficient to obtain a polymerized whey protein having about 30 to about 85 percent disulfide crosslinking; and optionally cooling the aqueous suspension containing the polymerized whey protein; and (ii) mixing at least a portion of the aqueous suspension containing the polymerized whey protein from (i), water, and milkfat to obtain a mixture; (iii) heating the mixture to a temperature of about 55 to about 75° C. to liquify the milkfat at; (iv) homogenizing the mixture from (iii) at about 1,500 psi to about 5,000 psi to form a homogenized mixture; (v) optionally pasteurizing the homogenized mixture; (vi) cooling the homogenized mixture of step (iv) or the optionally pasteurized mixture of step (v) to approximately ambient temperature; (vii) inoculating the mixture with a lactic culture and fermenting the inoculated mixture to obtain a fermented mixture; (viii) mixing a stabilizer and optionally a salt with the fermented mixture and cooking at a temperature of about 70 to about 105° C. to obtain a cooked material; and (ix) homogenizing the cooked material to obtain the cream cheese product having significantly reduced levels of casein.