Elucidation on the destabilization mechanism of whipping creams during static storage

The destabilization mechanism of whipping cream emulsions during static storage was elucidated systematically in the present study. The results indicated that whipping creams mainly undergo three destabilization processes: initial steady state, watering-off, and agglomeration. These three processes sequentially occurred with breakages of the dynamic equilibrium of hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, ionic bonds, and disulfide bonds. Flocculation, mainly caused by negative effects of non-adsorbed whey protein aggregates and free calcium ions, played a key role in accelerating the destabilization process of watering-off. As the degree of flocculation increased, fat droplets in a close contact were involved into partial coalescence, followed by forming a three-dimensional matrix with whey protein/κ-casein complexes, which further facilitated the agglomeration process. It is proposed that inhibition of the flocculation is the key to improve stability of whipping cream emulsions during static storage.