Foods and beverages: apparatus – Mechanical – fluid or heat treatment of dairy food
Patent
1995-11-07
1998-01-13
Cano, Milton
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Mechanical, fluid or heat treatment of dairy food
99456, 99461, 99466, 426512, 426582, A01J 2513
Patent
active
057067198
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The present invention relates to a cheese moulding method and a device for application of such method according to the invention.
The production of cheese generally consists in obtaining a mixture of curds and serum from milk, and introduce it into moulds which it will drain in.
Yet, curds and serum are very often introduced moulds manually and empirically.
When serum-curds mixture is introduced into a distributor located above the moulds positioned side by side, a scraper is manually rubbed inside the distributor so as to tip the curds-serum mixture into the moulds.
However, it is difficult to obtain cheeses having the same weight, since the serum/curds ratio by weight is very different from one production to the other and during moulding, depending on the serum drained out of the mould.
The automation of this technique does meet many problems such as uncertainty about the volume/weight ratio of the moulded mixture, account being taken of the important variations from one production to the other, as regards the dry matter content in the curds and serum mixture.
The object of the present invention is to make the automatic moulding of cheese possible, while guaranteeing a certain consistency in the production of cheeses, more particularly as far as their weight is concerned.
The cheese moulding method concerned by the invention makes it possible to mould a mixture of curds and serum in a series of moulding cups.
According to the invention, this method comprises the following steps: located above the series of cups; and so as to fill the moulding cups.
Thus, the curds and serum mixture introduced into the hopper is tipped into the cups through the hopper openings. The relative motion of the hopper and the series of cups makes it possible to have a continuous filling of the moulding cups.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, during step c), the hopper is steady and the series of cups is subject to a reciprocating motion under the hopper.
Thus, the filling of the moulding cups is carried out in several operations, which makes it possible for the serum-curds mixture to be properly distributed into the cups, between each passage under the hopper.
Preferably, the method according to the invention includes a step d) during which the volume of cups increases between each reciprocating motion of step c).
Between each passage of the hopper above the cups, the volume thereof is increased by a predetermined value.
The mixture is thus loaded into the cups in several operations which makes it possible to increase the homogeneity of the curds-serum mixture between the various cups.
According to a profitable version of the invention, upon completion of step c), the value of the quantity of the serum-curds mixture contained in the hopper is compared to a set value, and the comparative value thus obtained is used for adjusting the value of the volume reached by the cups upon completion of step c) for the next application of the method.
Such comparative value thus makes it possible to adjust the final volume of cups for the last passage of the hopper above the cups, for the next moulding operation.
Thus, depending on whether the remaining quantity is greater or smaller than the set value, the volume of the moulding cups is increased or reduced.
Thus the volume of the moulding cups is adjusted according to the special characteristics of the curds-serum mixture, so that a more or less important serum-curds mixture is tipped from the moulding cups into the moulds so as to obtain cheeses having the same weight, after draining in the moulds.
According to another embodiment of the invention, the moulding device for the application of the method according to the invention includes a vessel for containing a mixture of curds and serum, and a series of moulding cups.
According to the invention, the device comprises a distribution trough in which the vessel flows, a hopper including a row of openings located above the series of moulding cups and located at the distribution trough outlet, and motion means designed for mo
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patent: 3824918 (1974-07-01), Bronkhorst
patent: 4568554 (1986-02-01), Derode
patent: 4676475 (1987-06-01), Grandin et al.
patent: 4750415 (1988-06-01), Osterman
patent: 5384137 (1995-01-01), Bolioli et al.
Cano Milton
Equipements Techniques des Industries Alimentaires et Connexes T
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