ABSTRACT
Frozen dairy products can be divided into two categories. These are frozen as a means of increasing their shelf life and will be thawed prior to consumption or further processing and those in which the freezing process is responsible for the development of the desired structure and texture and are consumed in the frozen state. Unlike most other frozen food commodities, the majority of frozen dairy products fall into the latter category, namely, ice cream and related frozen, aerated dairy desserts such as ice milk, sherbet, and frozen yogurt. The amount of dairy products that fall into the first category, those that need thawing prior to further processing or consumption, is very small relative to the frozen dairy dessert industry. The process of freezing itself has little significant effect on the proteins of milk, but frozen storage can cause the casein micelles to lose their stability and precipitate upon thawing.
