Can you carbonate milk? (1 Superb Way)

In this brief guide, we will answer the question, can you carbonate milk? We will discuss some potential ways to carbonate milk and the chemistry involved in using different sources of carbonation. We will also discuss the impact of using a SodaStream machine to carbonate milk.

Can you carbonate milk?

You can carbonate milk but to a limited extent. If you use a SodaStream machine, the carbon dioxide will make the milk thick instead of fizzy. 

If you use a SodaStream machine to incorporate bubbles into the drink, the result will sometimes be curdled milk with an off-putting taste.

The resulting product will have only a little fizz regardless of the amount of gas you try to add. 

While you may have heard of carbonated milk drinks sold all over the world, such as e-moo and crazy cow; they are a diluted version of milk that makes the dissolution of carbon dioxide possible.

Moreover, water is also not an ideal solvent for carbon dioxide under ordinary circumstances, rendering it crucial to either decrease the temperature or increase the pressure. 

A product called Vio was launched by the Coca-Cola Company, which was a fruit-flavored milk drink.

To sum it up, the best way to carbonate milk would be to make a Milk-Soda, by adding soda to milk to make it fizzy. Milk soda has been around for quite a long time and, you can make it with any carbonated beverage of your choice, from Pepsi to Mountain Dew.

Why does milk resist carbonation, unlike other beverages?

The difference in taste occurs because the proteins in milk react with the carbon dioxide gas. As an acidic gas, carbon dioxide makes the proteins in milk coagulate; and curdle.

The back of the Soda Stream machine has a carbonation tank that passes the gas through the nozzle to the front. When you put the bottle of milk at the designated slot, it gets secured. As the gas passes through the nozzle and into the bottle, the beverage gets carbonated. 

If the liquid is cold water, the carbon dioxide has no trouble dissolving in the water and creating a fizz. The carbon dioxide changes to carbonic acid; hence, the bubbles form at the surface of the liquid.

Milk; besides, water has proteins and fats. Proteins such as whey and casein denature. The proteins float around in the liquid, where the fats tend to keep the protein molecules apart.

The thick consistency of milk that you are familiar with is due to the suspended protein particles. 

As you introduce the acidic gas into milk, the protein molecules that were once far apart; stick together and change their structures.

Hence, carbonic acid introduced in milk; makes the protein denatured, which is associated with proteins adopting a bent shape and starting to float in the liquid. 

When the protein denatures, it makes the milk curdle and become thick. As you put the glass of milk close to your mouth or touch it, you will be able to tell the drastic change in texture that occurs. The supposed carbonate milk will be sour with non-existent fizz, with fewer proteins. 

The more carbon dioxide you try to dissolve in milk, the more it goes into denaturing the protein and thickening the milk. 

A chain of reactions occurs due to the discrete number of proteins with basic side groups.

The basicity lures the carbonic acid to it, which results in a consequent change of protein structures until all the proteins change their structure. Even if you manage to induce a few bubbles into your milk, they are insufficient to go noticed, especially; because of the sour and off-taste. 

Therefore, if you try to carbonate milk, you end up with a product that does not taste good or has the expected nutritional value.

Can curdled milk be consumed?

Curdled milk is safe and is a culinary ingredient for many chefs and cuisines around the world. 

Curdled milk must not give you an upset stomach or a gastrointestinal problem unless it is uncharted territory for you. While nobody recommends drinking curdled milk straight up, it has plenty of uses in cooking. 

Milk curdling is a crucial step in cheese and yogurt making. As the proteins change their structure in either of various ways we end up with such dairy products. 

The taste of curdled milk is not tasty and can make your stomach funny.

While spoiled milk also smells and tastes like curdled milk, curdled milk is not supposed to make you sick. 

In this brief guide, we answered the question, can you carbonate milk? We discussed some potential ways to carbonate milk and the chemistry involved in using different sources of carbonation. We also discussed the impact of using a SodaStream machine to carbonate milk.

Citations

http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/2006-10/1162053452.Ch.r.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-department-of-weird-soft-drinkscarbonated-milk-65280589/

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