Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Plant material is basic ingredient other than extract,...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-08
2002-01-22
Pratt, Helen (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Plant material is basic ingredient other than extract,...
C426S465000, C426S578000, C426S615000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06340494
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to flake agglomerates having a pulpy texture after reconstitution. It relates in particular to a process for producing dry products which can be reconstituted using cold and hot aqueous liquids to form fruit pulps and vegetable pulps.
2. The Related Art
Roller drying of starches and of vegetable purees or fruit purees is a drying technology which has long been known. The starch pastes etc. are applied in a thin layer to a hot, slowly rotating roller. The film which is produced in this manner, and which is dry at the end, is taken off from-the roller shortly upstream of the application point of the wet products and comminuted to form flakes. The resultant flakes are not only dry, and thus have improved keeping quality in comparison with the water-containing, generally readily spoilable starting products, but the thermal cooking on the hot roller has, for example, also caused gelatinization of the starches. Products produced by roller drying therefore swell in aqueous liquids, or are sometimes even soluble therein (the term “swelling starches” for cold-swelling starches results from the application of this technology).
Typical of roller-dried products is the flake shape resulting from the film comminution, which flake shape can still be recognized under the microscope, even with very intense comminution. Flakes can have any size in the two directions given by the film plane, dependent solely on the degree of comminution. In contrast, the expansion into the third dimension is clearly predetermined by the film thickness possible on the roller and is generally between 0.3 and 0.7 mm, the latter value already generally requiring double application.
Owing to this characteristic flake shape, roller products are differentiated from other drying processes in which there is no limitation with respect to the third dimension. Generally, for example in air-circulation drying and freeze-drying, at least in principle, products expanded as desired in all dimensions can be obtained. Even spray-drying gives a spherical product expanded equally in all three dimensions, although only very small particles are obtained.
Therefore, there has been no lack of attempts to give flake products a third dimension. Thus, owing to the poorer heat transfer in the case of thicker films and thus insufficient drying on the one side, and overdrying or even burning, owing to the sensitivity of many foods to high temperatures, on the side lying on the roller, this has not been achieved to date using roller drying.
In the case of high-sugar, products, such as fruit pulps, the hot film, which is plastic on account of the high sugar content, can be pushed together by suitable apparatuses during takeoff from the roller and in this manner a product about 2-3 mm thick is obtained after solidification due to folding into the third dimension. As regards the structure and appearance, products of this type are more comparable with foam-dried products than with flakes.
Furthermore, this is a process which changes the appearance, but not the physical properties, i.e. the solubility, swellability, etc.
However, there is now a need not only to change the development of the flakes in the direction of a third dimension, but simultaneously their physical properties. This is because flake products, on account of their small thickness, not only have a low mechanical stability which leads, for example, to their readily disintegrating in mixing processes. Also, in aqueous liquids, flakes generally rapidly dissolve, i.e. the particles stuck to one another in the film during drying disintegrate rapidly, which, in the case of mashed potato products, which are likewise produced by roller drying, is an advantage, since then the individual potato cells which are typical of mashed potato having good consistency (non-sticky) are obtained.
In many products, in contrast, such a disintegration of the flakes is not wanted, but what is termed a pulpy structure is sought.
These are to be present not only after rehydration in cold liquids, but, in particular, also after rehydration in hot liquids.
The production of such products having a pulpy structure after rehydration in hot aqueous liquids is described in Patents DE 29 38 596 and DE 35 06 513. 20 According to the process of DE 29 38 596, the fruit or vegetable portion is mixed with starch and, if appropriate, other additives and before, during or after the mixing is converted at least in part in a manner known per se by gelatinization, freezing, drying and, if appropriate, comminution, into a starch sponge having a grain size of from 125 um to 2 cm.
In the process of DE 35 06 513, the fruit or vegetable portion is likewise mixed with external starch and, if appropriate, other additives, as external starch use being made at least in part of legume starch which before, during or after the mixing is converted at least in part by gelatinization under mild conditions and drying and also, if appropriate, comminution, into a dry product having a particle size of from 0.1 to 10 mm. In this process, the reconstitution properties can be further improved by what is termed conditioning, i.e. a heat-moisture treatment after the drying. This conditioning, when roller drying is employed, advantageously immediately follows the actual roller-drying process.
In both processes, in particular, dry tomato products are produced which have not only a pulpy structure, but also a certain cooking stability.
The starch sponge obtained by the process of DE 29 38 596 can, on account of its high porosity, readily be dried. The properties to be demanded of such a product, that is to say sufficient expansion in all three dimensions, are ensured during the freeze-drying or air-circulation drying by the greater layer thickness possible in this process. The improved stability after hydration results from the starch retrogradation achieved during freezing and rethawing. Retrograded starch disintegrates less readily in hot liquids, but is also of only limited cooking stability.
In the process of DE 35 06 513, the required pulpy texture is achieved by the use of a special starch, that is to say pea starch, which owing to its higher amylose content, under suitable conditions, retrogrades more intensively as soon as it is on the roller, so that a flake is obtained which likewise does not disintegrate in hot liquids and has the desired pulpiness. However, still missing from this flake is the expansion into the third dimension, which would denote a still more enhanced pulpiness.
The essential advantage of the process described in DE 35 06 513 is the production costs which are about 50% lower by using the roller drying instead of the sponge technique. The flake production using roller drying is an at most 2-stage process (drying, flocculation), whereas, when the sponge technique is used, 4-5 process steps are necessary (freezing, conditioning, thawing, water removal, drying, comminution).
A proven process, which is employed especially in the case of fine powders, for increasing particle sizes, in particular in all three dimensions, is the agglomeration process, which, in the case of flake products, in view of the generally low mechanical stability can be used with more difficulty, but may always be used. Although an agglomeration of this type fundamentally represents a further process step, it does not denote following directly the flocculation, i.e. the comminution of the film which is necessary in any case, any significant complication of the process. The Comparison Example 1 below shows that very attractive particles, which are expanded in all 3 dimensions, of a light, coarsely porous structure are obtained in this way. Unfortunately, these particles disintegrate, which is also generally sought after in the case of agglomerated products in the context of good dispersibility, very rapidly, more precisely as soon as they are in cold aqueous liquids (the cooking residue is correspondingly low, 68-75 g).
U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,443,964, 3,579,341 and 3,650,770 describe th
Klukowski Horst
Speth Gerhard
Stute Rolf
Bestfoods
Norris & McLaughlin & Marcus
Pratt Helen
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