06/09/2021

Variations with foams

Contents of the lecture

◼ Foams as foods
◼ Parameters for the characterisation of foams
◼ Foam preparation and stability
◼ Milk foams versus whipped cream
◼ Meringues
◼ Sabayon

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The kitchen as laboratory – relevant chapters

◼ 14 – Lighten up! – The role of gases in the culinary

experience
◼ 15 – The meringue concept and its variations
◼ 16 – Why does cold milk foam better?

Foams as foods

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Foams

Low Heat treatment High

Whipped cream Sabayon

Ice-cream Mousse Meringue
Soufflé
Parfait

fat protein sugar

Hard/melting/ soft Creamy Crispy

Foam properties
◼ Volume fraction → overrun: 100 φ /(1- φ)
⚫ Ice cream: 30-100%
⚫ Stick-molded ice cream: < 10%
⚫ Whipped cream: 100-120%
⚫ Meringue: > 200%
◼ Bubble size distribution
⚫ 100-1000 m
⚫ 1012 - 109 bubbles/ m3
⚫ 0.05-0.005 m2/ ml
◼ Thickness and composition of the surface layer
◼ Properties of the continuous phase (e.g. gelling, presence
of particles…)

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In the Modernist kitchen

◼ Light foams (thin liquid, large bubbles) → toppings, decorations

◼ Thick foams (thick liquid, small, closely packed bubbles) → main

part of a dish

Foam formation
◼ Preparation
⚫ Supersaturation
• Siphon (5-5.5 bar)
⚫ Agitation
• Beater
⚫ Gas injection

◼ Creaming rate: 1mm/s or faster

◼ In layer
⚫ Deformation due to buoyancy forces
⚫ Ostwald ripening→ more monodisperse

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Surfactant

◼ Type
⚫ Protein are good surfactant for food foams
⚫ Suitability depends on protein (fast unfolding better: -
lactoglobulin and -casein>> ovalbumin and lysozyme)

◼ Concentration
⚫ Related to specific surface area and surface excess
concentration

Foam formation by beating

Stretching of the film

Coalescence Surface denaturation

Amount of foam

Amount of foam

Beater speed Beating time

Extent depends on surfactant

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Creaming and drainage

‘Dry’ foam

v: creaming velocity
g: gravitational constant
2g r² (ρ2- ρ1) r: radius particles
Stokes v= ρ1: density cont. phase
18η1 ρ2: density disp. phase
η1: viscosity cont. phase

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Curved surfaces – drainage in foams

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Drainage
Air fraction Top of foam has higher
volume fraction air than bottom

Suction pressure out

of Plateau borders (P) due
Q
P to difference in curvature
between P and Q.

Suction pressure ~ water column pressure

Higher column, higher suction pressure,
higher curvature, more air

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To prevent creaming/ drainage

◼ Gelling of the continuous phase (gelatine, carrageenans,…)

◼ Freezing (ice-cream)

◼ Stabilisation by particles (fat globules → whipped cream)

◼ Partial protein denaturation → network formation (whipped

egg white)

◼ Heat treatment (meringue)

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Milk foams

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Milk foams

◼ Skimmed or partly skimmed milk easier to foam than

whole milk
◼ Steam injection gives stronger foams (from 4°C to
65°C)
◼ Casein and whey proteins both present on bubble
surface
◼ Melted fat can impair bubbles formation

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Whipping cream

Light micrographs of a model cream stabilized by 1% WPI whipped at a rotational speed of 584 rpm: (a) before whipping; (b) after 50 s;
(c) after 290 s; and (d) after 473 s. Time to reach endpoint of whipping, 473 s; length of bar = 100 μm

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Microstructure of whipped cream

Low-temperature scanning electron micrographs of fresh foam whipped from (A) high-temperature short-time heat-treated, stabilized
cream and (B) ultra-high-temperature heat-treated and stabilized cream; and aged foams (24 h at 5°C) whipped from (C) high-temperature
short-time heat-treated and stabilized cream and (D) ultra-high-temperature heat-treated and stabilized cream; air bubbles labelled b. Note
the channel, marked c, which formed during storage. Bar=200 μm

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Microstructure of whipped cream

http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/whcream.html

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Whipped cream

Destabilisation by network breakdown

induced by T increase (utensils cold)

http://www.foodsci.uoguelph.ca/dairyedu/whcream.html

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Stability: whipping cream versus milk

Drainage Disproportionation
Cream: Cream:

High viscosity due to many fat particles Interfacial network strong

Network elasticity Milk:

Milk: No barriers

Low viscosity in milk due to less

fat particles
No elastic network Coalescence
Cream:
Extreme amount of air whipped in milk Layer and network around bubbles,
will give a stiff foam due to thin film and less Milk:
drainage Thin film of milk around the bubbles

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Variations with meringues

baking

Whipped egg-white and sugar meringue

◼ Apple juice can be foamed, but watermelon cannot.

What about garlic, tomato etc?
◼ Wish to develop a ready to use recipe for any savory baked foams,
with the retention
of the right aroma components

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Egg-white based meringue analogues

◼ Basic recipe
Meringue recipe
⚫ 100 ml water
2 egg whites
⚫ 1.5, 5, 15% (w/v) protein 150 gram sugar
⚫ 0, 10, 50, 200% (w/v) sucrose
◼ Studied parameters
⚫ Foam formation
◼ Overrun, microscopic images
⚫ Foam stability
◼ Drained volume & foam volume over time, microscopic images
⚫ Baking
◼ Moisture evaporation

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Foam formation
700

600
Initial foam volume [mL]

500

400

300

200

100

0
0 1 2 3 4 5 6
Protein concentration [% w/v]

Diluting egg-white 10x still yields same amount of foam as undiluted.

Amount of foam: number and size of bubbles, film thickness

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Protein concentration needed?

Foam quality remains constant till 6-7 times dilution

Further dilution yields separation

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Minimal required protein concentration

bubble

liquid
Enough protein Not enough protein

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Maximal amount of air

More air?
Maximal airiness
determined by
minimal distance
between bubbles

->air excretion
Enough protein
Too little protein-liquid versus air

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Foam formation
A

5% egg-white foams
(A) Maximal whipped, no sucrose
(B) Maximally whipped, then sucrose 200 g/ 100mL

Sucrose increases amount of liquid

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Liquid volume and viscosity versus sucrose

140

120
Increase in volume [mL]

100

80

60

40

20
A
0 0.16
0 50 100 150 200 250
0.14
Added sucrose [g/100mL]

Dynamic viscosity [Pa*s]

0.12

0.1

0.08

0% 10% 50% 0.06 200% sucrose

0.04

0.02
B
0
0 50 100 150 200 250
Added sucrose [g/100mL]

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Drainage
Drained volume for various protein and sucrose
concentrations

120
1.5% 0%

100 1.5% 10%

Drained Volume (ml)

1.5% 50%
80 1.5% 200%
5% 0%
60
5% 10%
40 5% 50%
5% 200%
20 15% 0%
15% 10%
0
15% 50%
0 5 10 15 20 25 30
15% 200%
Time (minutes)

Drainage mainly first 5-15 minutes

Drainage slow for 200% sucrose
High drainage for 1.5% protein
Initial volume 500-550

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Baking results
hard
Sucrose A
0% 10% 50% 200%
Protein
0.2%

0.3%

0.5%

1.0%

5.0%

15.0%

Rubbery

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Simple rules

(1) Protein is necessary to provide the initial foam structure

(2) Solid content of the foam determines amount of collapse during baking
(3) Sugar provides a harder, more brittle structure than with only protein

Variations ?

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Milk meringue
For 500 ml foam:
Milk Egg
3.5% protein 11% protein

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Milk meringue

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Conclusion

◼ Variations possible by balancing between

⚫ protein concentration
⚫ liquid content
⚫ sugar content
⚫ rate of drainage during baking
⚫ rate of fluid evaporation during baking

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Sabayon
◼ Foam of egg yolks and
sugar, with added sweet
wine
◼ Heated during whisking
◼ Foam arises upon
whisking
◼ Only after sufficient
amount of wine one
obtains foaming

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Sabayon
What does sugar do?
Taste and …

4 egg-yolks 4 egg-yolks 4 egg-yolks 4 egg-yolks

200 g sugar 200 g sugar 100 g sugar 100 g sugar
30 cl water 10 cl water 10 cl water 30 cl water

foam no foam less foam water separation

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Exercise

How much energy is required to prepare from 200 ml of

protein solution 400 ml of foam in which the air bubbles
have a diameter of 0.2 mm? The surface tension of the
solution is 0.05 N/ m.

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