Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Foam or foamable type
Reexamination Certificate
2000-11-13
2003-01-07
Paden, Carolyn (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Foam or foamable type
C426S570000, C426S573000, C426S576000, C426S586000, C530S354000, C424S439000, C424S442000, C424S484000, C424S485000, C424S488000, C514S937000, C514S938000, C514S944000, C514S945000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06503553
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to composite products which may have various forms but which have the commonality of combining an additive to a creamy base of a selected type whereby an edible or ingestible product of a stable character is produced.
Important applications of the invention will be to various food products but the invention also extends to other applications wherein the additive is an active medical or pharmaceutical ingredient and the creamy base acts as an effective carrier.
BACKGROUND TO THE INVENTION
The inventor's own prior patent specification PCT/AU95/00259 (now Australian patent No. 691,282 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,939,126) discloses a range of embodiments in which a creamy base is aerated and a hot aqueous solution of gelatin is rapidly and intimately mixed through the creamy base whereby the gelatin is effectively dispersed. The amount of gelatin, its concentration in the solution and the temperature of the solution needs to be selected relative to the aerated creamy base such that effective and intimate rapid distribution of the gelatin occurs whereby the base has a range of advantageous characteristics. The inventors' prior patent discloses products which can have excellent freeze/thaw stability and/or products which have an extraordinary capacity to be intimately mixed with oily products, acidic products, fruit components containing enzymes and products having an alcoholic base. These additives generally are difficult to mix intimately with a cream based food product to produce a combination for use e.g. as a sauce, mayonnaise, dessert or similar product.
The use of gelatin in the food industry is used in a wide range of applications but the particular applications the inventor's prior patent offers new and useful applications. This specification is directed to additional significant new application and production methods extending to further uses of the creamy base.
The use of gelatin is also known in the pharmaceutical industry as a coating of pharmaceutical products. One recent patent in this field is U.S. Pat. No. 5,614,219 (Wunderlich et al) which discloses, for oral administration, peptidic medicaments such as insulin distributed in a gelatin or gelatin derivative matrix.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,928,664 is a further disclosure for medicament carriers using a gelatin matrix and a glycerol matrix and other gummy delivery systems.
Thus, gelatin is well established as an acceptable food component and component for use in the pharmaceutical industry.
The present invention is directed to a range of new applications all based on new and useful applications derived from a creamy base product produced from any one of the forms of the inventor's prior patent specification and whereby novel combinations and/or novel processing conditions are proposed for additional steps so that new and useful products are derived. A major application of products of the inventor's prior patent are products which have been allowed to at least set and cool and may then either be cold-stored for good shelf life or frozen to provide extended shelf life. It is to be understood that the present invention includes applications where the creamy base product is not necessarily allowed to cool and set before additional components, as required by aspects of the present invention, are introduced. The creamy base product together with the hot aqueous gelatin solution mixed into the base product can be further processed at elevated temperature with additional components and otherwise treated in accordance with aspects of the further present invention. Alternatively, the cold, set creamy base according to the prior patent specification may be a starting ingredient for new methods and products.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of producing a food product including taking a creamy base component (as defined hereinafter) mixing in a further food product before, during or after mixing in the gelatin solution;
establishing and maintaining elevated temperature conditions:
(i) to cause intimate distribution of the further food product substantially uniformly with the cream base component and
(ii) to provide increased shelf life to the product when cooled and packaged;
allowing the composite product to cool and then providing suitable storage for supply of the food product.
For the purpose of this specification, the creamy base component as defined as that derived from:
a cold base ingredient selected from the group consisting of cream, artificial cream, thickened cream, cream cheese, and mixtures thereof and mixtures with compatible incidental ingredients, the ingredient being aerated to produce an overrun and intimately mixing into the ingredient a hot aqueous solution of gelatin providing:
(A) sufficient thermal load to maintain the gelatin solution and the cold base ingredient with low enough viscosity to permit rapid and substantially uniform distribution during the mixing step;
(B) sufficient gelatin to provide the stability required in the product; and
(C) sufficient gelatin to substantially obviate breakdown or collapse of the aerated base ingredient during or after the mixing step, whereby the product has freeze/thaw stability.
Preferably, but not necessarily the method of producing the creamy base is characterised by one or more of the following conditions:
(a) the gelatin solution is at greater than 48° C. and preferably at about 80° C.;
(b) the gelatin solution causes 1%-3% by weight of gelatin in the creamy base;
(c) the aeration is to an overrun in the range of 10%-40%;
(d) the ingredient is at about 4° C. and after mixing the gelatin solution raises the product temperature to about 10° C.;
(e) mixing is conducted rapidly using a wire whisk.
An example of a creamy base is one having the following ingredients:
Cream Cheese;
Sugar;
Sweetened Condensed Milk;
Thickened Cream (0.4% gelatin and 35% milk fat);
Type B Gelatin (115-135 Bloom);
Water.
The ingredients provided added gelatin of 1.16% so that the resultant product would have a total of approximately 1.5% gelatin. The cream was thickened by conventional thickening. The manufacturing methodology used a Hobart mixer with a wire whisk agitator. The method was as follows:
1. Cream cheese and sugar was blended to a smooth paste at mixer speed 2 for approximately 3 minutes and then for a 30 second mixing at speed 3.
2. Sweetened condensed milk was added with agitation at speed 3 for approximately 90 seconds.
3. The thickened cream was added and beating occurred in the mixer on speed 3 for approximately 2 minutes and this achieved a 25% increase in volume.
4. The gelatin was formed in solution in water at near boiling point and allowed to cool to approximately 80° C. The cream pre-mix at about 10° C. then received the gelatin solution poured slowly into the mixer on speed 2 with the solution directed into the spinning whisk. It was distributed in approximately 10 to 15 seconds and then the mixer speed increased to speed 3 for a few seconds. The product was then available for use, including freezing and when desired thawing and mixing with other materials.
One important application is where by mechanical mixing, the creamy base component is substantially deaerated before or during mixing in the further food component.
Important embodiments of the invention are those in which an elevated temperature around the boiling point of the product is sustained for a period of the order of one minute and typically in the range 30 seconds to 5 minutes and preferably in the range 30 seconds to 2 minutes. In some embodiments, additional water is added to ensure that suitable product characteristics are maintained.
It is preferred that sufficient water be added to the mixture to prevent excessive reduction of the mixture, but not to leave free water in the final product.
One example of the food product is where the product is maintained at 90° C. for about 1 minute and then hot filled into a suitable container which is closed before cooling a
Australian Co-operative Foods Limited
Crowell & Moring LLP
Paden Carolyn
LandOfFree
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