Zuivelarwei
What is cheese whey?
Cheese whey is the liquid that remains when milk is processed into cheese. The composition of the whey can vary, depending on what cheese was made from the milk. Sometimes the whey can be sour, like with yoghurt. Sometimes the whey is sweet, like with our Berloumi.
Milk contains two different types of proteins. The casein (82%), ends up in the cheese. The whey proteins (18%) remain in the whey, along with most of the milk sugar. So is cheese whey healthy? It certainly contains nutritious substances, but mostly, we just think it’s delicious!
In the kitchen, you can use whey where you would otherwise use water. You can use it as a broth for soups and sauces, or when making milkshakes or icecream. You can even use it to boil pasta or rice. We love to make this delicious bread with it!
Buy cheese whey
Would you like to try our cheese whey? You can buy it in our store in Berlare. We offer it in bottles from 1 liter to 10-liter jugs. Or you can simply bring your own bottle! Visit our shop to check out our other products as well.
Cheese whey is a by-product of our cheese production. It’s nutritious, but mostly it is delicious to use in the kitchen.
Recipes with cheese whey
Are whey-proteins healthy?
We do not want to make any health claims about our whey. You’re best off buying our whey for its culinary uses because, healthy or not, whey is just really delicious.
The benefits of whey protein
Whey proteins are one of the most studied dietary supplements for a good reason. They have a very high nutritional value and offer some exceptional health benefits.
The last couple of years, a lot of research has been conducted on the positive effects of whey proteins and their amino acids. This research shows that there are indeed positive health benifits. The use of proteins is already well-established for athletes. Leucine, in particular, plays a key role in speeding up muscle recovery after excercise. An important requirement is that the whey-proteins are consumed shortly after the exercise.
The proteins in whey contain very high-quality amino acids. Moreover, all essential amino acids are present in whey protein. Compared to other proteins, they are also quickly digestible. Therefore, it is important for athletes to consume the proteins right after the exercise.
Some health claims made about cheese whey are completely untrue.
Whey proteins are used in our body for maintaining or building muscles. Especially in combination with strength training, or for elderly people where muscle growth is already naturally declining.
Whey proteins are, more then other proteins, very filling. They create a lasting sense of satiety, and the body requires more energy to digest these proteins compared to carbohydrates and fats.
So, what about all that whey, then?
The whey preparations, supplements, and sports drinks you can find in the grocery store, available as concentrate, isolate, or hydrolysate, come from the by-products of larger dairy and cheese companies.
Despite difficult terms like isolate, these products are still just derived from a natural resource like milk. The by-products (whey) that result from cheese production are processed into various powders through processes like concentration, osmosis, and spray drying, and then a flavor is added.
In small to medium-sized cheese factories, cheese whey is a serious problem. Almost 82% of the initial milk, leaves the factory as whey. In the best case, part of the cheese whey goes back to the animals. It’s worse when the whey is spread on the land or ends up in the sewage system. The remaining organic substances in the sour whey burden the environment where they end up. Big dairy factories make a powder out of their whey so they can later sell its valuable content to the food industry.
In medium-sized cheese factories like ours, it is not profitable to invest in complicated techniques to powder the whey. Neither is transporting the whey to get it powdered.
Thanks to its high nutritious value, our cheese whey is mostly sold to pig farmers. Our 30.000 liter whey tank thus gets emptied twice a week!
Since we cook most of our whey to make ricotta, our remaining whey contains very little protein and fat. However, the lactose sugar is still present.
Our “Zuivelarwei” project was made possible through a subsidy for circular chain projects from the Province of East Flanders and a VLIF support from the department of Agriculture & Fisheries.
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