Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Gels or gelable composition
Reexamination Certificate
2002-03-13
2003-01-14
Bhat, Nina (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Gels or gelable composition
C426S479000, C426S661000, C426S506000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06506436
ABSTRACT:
The invention is particularly applicable for producing a fruit paste which is oven stable or baked stable to be used as an ingredient for a baked fruit product and it will be described with particular reference thereto; however, the invention is broader and may be used in some instances to produce a paste or food ingredient which is based upon a more neutral flavoring constituent, such as chocolate or caramel.
INCORPORATION BY REFERENCE
An aspect of the present invention is the blending of two instant corn starches and ultra rapidly dispersing this starch blend in a liquid phase of constituent having free water, so that the dispersion of the blend of instant starches is accomplished prior to the hydration of the starches by the available free water of the liquid phase. To accomplish this objective, in the invention, the blend of starches must be ultra rapidly dispersed within the liquid phase or component, which operation, in practice, is accomplished by use of a high speed blender of the type used to introduce dry powder into a liquid phase. Such a blender is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,606,270. This patent is incorporated by reference herein to illustrate the ultra rapid dispersion of the starch blend into the liquid phase of the food item prior to hydration of the separate starches. The blender of this patent is the general type of blender which is employed to accomplish one aspect of the present invention.
The present invention involves a blend of an instant granular modified corn starch hydratable into a highly viscous free standing mass when exposed to free water. This type of modified starch is sold under the trademark MIRA-THIK by A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company of Decatur, Ill. A product sheet on this modified starch is incorporated by reference herein.
The invention uses a second corn starch which is an instant granular natural corn starch hydratable by free water to form a resilient, colloidal gel structure. In practice the second starch is MIRA-GEL sold by A.E. Staley Manufacturing Company of Decatur, Ill. A product sheet of this natural starch is incorporated by reference herein.
In one preferred embodiment of the present invention two texture control starches are added to the stabilizing blend of cold starches. In practice BINASOL 15 is used to add smoothness to the resulting paste. A second texture control starch is sometimes used to create the pulpy type of texture, such as found in Fig Newton bars. This texture control starch in practice is REDI-TEX. Both of these dry texture control starches, which are used in one embodiment of the invention, are sold by A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company of Decatur, Ill. and product sheets for these two texture control starches are also incorporated by reference herein.
In one aspect of the invention a colloidal grade of microcrystalline cellulose with a small amount of carboxymethyl cellulose, is used to add coherency as well as to enhance the heat stability of the inventive paste. In practice the cellulose is sold under the trademark AVICEL sold by F.M.C. Corporation. Contrary to normal use of this cellulose, the invention masticates the needle shaped particles into ultra fine particulates. A product sheet regarding this cellulose is also incorporated by reference herein.
A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company sells a number of cold process starches for the food industry and a brochure of the various starches available from A. E. Staley Manufacturing Company is incorporated by reference herein. The several product sheets do not form a part of the present invention although they do relate to constituents of the paste constructed in accordance with the present invention. They are incorporated by reference herein to define the types of constituents used in practicing the preferred embodiment of the invention.
BACKGROUND OF INVENTION
Producers of fruit pastes and other bakery fillings normally manufacture these pastes in a pumpable form using hot processing techniques. Such techniques are required especially for high solids pastes such as over 60-65% solids. Most commercial fruit pastes are of the high solids type. To produce such pastes or fillings with a high solids content, the standard technique involves heating the liquid phase and the resulting paste for the purposes of stabilizing the filling or paste so that it is oven stable or bake stable for subsequent use in a baking environment. It has been conventional wisdom that such hot processing of fruit paste to produce an oven stable or bake stable ingredient results in the best quality and a product with a superior shelf life. However, the food industry has developed an alternative process for preparing food items known as a cold process technology, which does not require the addition of any significant heat in manufacturing the end product. There are several obvious reasons why the food industry has attempted to employ a cold process technology. The addition of heat to the process, in the form of steam or electricity, requires a substantial input of energy, which is expensive. In high solids materials, i.e. above 60-65% solids, heating of the product during processing requires a substantial amount of time. Thus, time necessary for producing the product, such as a food paste, is increased when using a hot processing technique. In addition, some food products, such as fruit paste used in bakery products lose some of their fresh taste characteristics by long time exposure to heat before the baking operation. Some products take on the characteristics of a cooked fruit product, when a natural or uncooked physical property is required for the end product. Fruit pastes, and other food products, which have added flavoring and color pigmentation to enhance the taste and appearance of the end product have these characteristics diminished by using the hot processing technique. In most instances, fruit pastes, fillings and other similar products are to be stored and shipped for subsequent use. Consequently, they must be cooled prior to packing and then reconstituted to the desired characteristics of the fruit product at the bakery. This added process operation increases the processing time and increases the equipment required for producing a bake stable fruit paste. When the paste is cooled subsequent to a hot processing operation and prior to packing for storage and shipment, added time and equipment are required. This expense is not justified by enhanced characteristics of the paste.
There is an effort under way to produce fruit based paste for bakery applications using a cold process technology. Since the most important function of the fruit paste produced by the cold process technology is the bake stability of the paste, the cold process technology must produce a product that can withstand temperatures of a baking operation without negatively affecting the baked product. The cold process technology must be designed to control the spread of the filling or paste as it is heated. In the past, it has been recognized that the oven stability or bake stable characteristic of the fruit paste or filling is affected by the stabilizer used in the paste or filling and the amount of solids in the paste or filling. The stabilizer for the high solids paste or fillings, which could be used in the cold processing technology, was alginates. When using alginates for a stabilizer in the cold process technology, the fruit paste or filling formed into a gel which was somewhat chunky. This was especially true at high solids levels. The gel matrix using an alginate inhibited heat transfer through the filling or paste to increase bake stability; however, alginate gels did have the limitation of being chunky and unable to exhibit a creamy texture or a controlled texture for the filling or paste. The final texture of the paste was not controllable and was always chunky. Indeed, the alginate gels could form properly in only acid environments, which somewhat limited the taste or flavor constituents which could be used in the filling or paste. Such cold processes could not be used for chocolate or carmel wh
Hansen John P.
Rock Jonathan D.
Bhat Nina
Fay Sharpe Fagan Minnich & McKee
The J. M. Smucker Company
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