Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Gels or gelable composition
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-14
2001-06-12
Paden, Carolyn (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Gels or gelable composition
C426S575000, C426S602000, C426S605000, C426S106000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06245375
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a translucent dressing which can be manufactured and offered to the consumer as a two-phase system. Upon shaking by hand, an emulsion is produced which remains stable for at least one week. Such a dressing is suitable for use on e.g. salad.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Conventional dressings for use on salads, especially those in use in Mediterranean countries, are emulsions of an oil phase (e.g. 50-60%) in a water phase (containing vinegar), optionally further containing salt, herbs, and spices. As the size of the oil droplets in these dressings is around 0.2-5 mm it is easily visible by the eye that oil is present. Such dressings are conventionally prepared fresh by the housewife by shaking or stirring oil (40-70%), vinegar (60-30%) and optionally salt, herbs together, to give a translucent, emulsified but not very stable salad dressing. Such dressing will generally be used directly after mixing and before phase separation occurs. Similar formulations are also commercially available but give rise to phase separation and/or the formation of creamy, turbid layers.
As a convenient alternative, there are available ready-to-use salad dressings which are in the form of a stable fine emulsions of oil and water, having an opaque, milky appearance, with no oil visibly present (either as droplets or as a separate layer).
Yet other type emulsions (having more coarse oil droplets) are disclosed in GB 2 143 114. Herein, salad dressings containing 10-50% oil, 0.1-0.4% gum arabicum, 0.3-0.7% iota-carrageenan and water are described. Said composition is processed to form an emulsion using emulsifying apparatus. It is reported the so-prepared emulsion is stable for at least several months. In order for such emulsions to be stable, either high levels of emulsifiers and stabilisers need to be used or the amount of oil which can be emulsified in the water in a stable manner is restricted, e.g. to 50% or less. If low levels of emulsifiers or stabilisers are used or high levels of oil, phase separation is likely to occur. Although such dressings may be convenient in use, they are generally perceived by the customer as artificial, as no oil can readily be seen as a separate layer (the visible presence of oil is seen as a quality attribute in dressings).
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
Up till now, dressings suitable for application on salad either are stable emulsions that have no visible oil present, have a limited amount of oil, or are compositions that are not stable for more than a few minutes after applying shear or have a tendency to separate in creamy, turbid layers.
Although the stable emulsions as disclosed in GB 2 143 114 (which appears as a single phase system in which oil is not visible as a separate layer) are attractive to consumers in many countries, consumers in other countries (e.g. Spain) have a preference for salad dressings which are both easy to use (e.g. single pack purchase, easy to convert in an emulsion of reasonable stability) and which have, at least upon purchase, visibly present oil and water phases, preferably as separate layers. Such products would be seen as high quality, “artisanal” type products, resembling in appearance traditional home-made products (the visible oil layer which is initially present). After conversion into an emulsion, the droplet size of the oil droplets should preferably such that a majority of them can be seen by the eye.
Hence, there is a need for packed composition containing all ingredients needed for preparing a high quality dressing suitable for application on salad, which packed composition preferably appears as a two-phase system on purchase by the customer (an oil phase being visible by the eye, preferably as separate layers), but which composition may be transformed into a dressing by shaking the packed composition by hand by the customer prior to use. Preferably, the composition should be such that high levels of oil 50-70% (preferably 50-65%) are present.
It is preferred that a once formed emulsion is stable for at least a few hours, preferably days to weeks. Also, it is preferred that if chopped vegetables or herbs (particle size e.g. 0.5-5 mm) are present in the composition they neither settle at the bottom nor be floating on the water or oil layer.
It has now been found that the above objectives can be achieved by a container in which is present a composition comprising (based on the total composition):
a vegetable oil phase in an amount of 30-70 wt %
a water phase in an amount of 70-30 wt %,
a thickener capable of giving a yield stress when dissolved in water,
wherein at least the majority of the oil is present as a separate, visible and transparent layer and wherein the amount of thickener is such that composition gives upon shaking by hand an oil-in-water emulsion which is stable for at least one week.
To prepare the above composition the thickener is dissolved in the water phase (or a part thereof), whereafter all components are introduced in the container. In the absence of agitation or emulsifying action, a two-layer system will form, which can be distributed and sold as such, and which may be turned in a dressing by the end user by shaking the container by hand, thus closely resembling (both in appearance and processing by the consumer) traditional, home-made clear salad dressings.
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XP-002114487; Layered Dressing Containing Dextrin Alcohol to Produce Clear Boundary Oil Water Layer; Database WPI, Section Ch, Week 7837, Derwent Publications Ltd., London, GB; Class A97, AN78-66371A; Aug. 17, 1998; Abstract JP53028981B.
Heydari Yadi
Kuil Gijsbertus
Pelan Barbara M C
Schenk Bert
Farrell James J.
Lipton division of Conopco, Inc.
Paden Carolyn
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