Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Flavor or flavor adjunct – acidulant or condiment
Reexamination Certificate
2001-05-11
2003-06-10
Wong, Leslie (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Flavor or flavor adjunct, acidulant or condiment
C426S534000, C426S601000, C426S607000, C426S613000, C426S651000, C426S658000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06576287
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION:
This invention relates to anhydrous fat-based flavoring additives which may be incorporated into baked goods, flour-based confections, frozen confections, and snack items. Specifically, the present invention is directed to edible anhydrous fat-based discrete flavoring additives which are presented in a form which may be chips, flakes, or chunks, which are flavored with cinnamon or other finely ground or liquid natural flavoring agent which is compatible with sugar—as to the sweetness of the product—and which are substantially solid at room temperatures. The anhydrous fat-based flavoring additive has a distinctive sweet cinnamon or other flavor, and may have an organoleptic sense of smoothness or crunchiness, depending on the specific formulation. In any event, the fat-based discrete flavoring additive of the present invention is anhydrous—that is, it is dry to the touch and feel—and it retains its form during a baking operation if necessary. In any formulation of discrete flavoring additives in keeping with the present invention, an important constituent is anhydrous dextrose; and another important constituent is an edible oil which has a melting point between 20 20° C. and 40° C.
The edible anhydrous fat-based discrete flavoring additives of the present invention are, therefore, sweet, dry, and with a flavoring such as cinnamon, maple, or other flavors discussed hereafter, which are compatible with sweetness. The flavoring is derived from natural flavoring agents which may be finely ground or liquid, as noted hereafter.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The baking industry has attempted on many occasions to provide baked goods and flour confections that may have cinnamon or sweet cinnamon flavoring therein, or other flavoring as may be the case from time to time. Cinnamon is particularly widely used because it is compatible with sweetness; however, often the flavoring of cinnamon is incorporated into a flour mixture simply by introduction of cinnamon and sugar into the batter or dough, during its preparation. Sometimes, such as when sweet buns are prepared, the cinnamon may be mixed with butter and/or sugar and/or oils, then swirled into the dough just prior to its being placed in pans or on baking trays for baking. However, there has been a well-defined demand for discrete flavoring additives that might be in the form of chips, flakes, or chunks, and which might be used in flour-based confections, baked goods, and even frozen confections, much the same way as chocolate chips are used in cookies and ice cream confections. However, the present invention provides discrete flavoring additives that may be more widely used than such as chocolate chips—for example, in the preparation of muffins, bread, tea biscuits, snack items, and the like.
That is to say, there is a requirement to provide fat-based flavored additives which are discrete in their form and nature, and which are sweetened so as to be incorporated into baked goods, flour-based confections, frozen confections, and some snack items. Moreover, the requirement is for such discrete fat-based flavoring additives to use flavoring agents that are more subtle than chocolate—cinnamon, maple, vanilla, citrus oils, natural botanical flavoring agents such as fenugreek, almond oils, and the like, being particular examples of such additional flavoring ingredients that are compatible with sweetness but which are not normally to be found in an anhydrous fat-based discrete chip, flake, or chunk.
Still further, organoleptic quality may be such that the discrete flavoring additive, when encountered in the mouth during eating, should have excellent flavor release, sometimes with a sweet aftertaste, and a mouth sense which may either convey the quality of smoothness or, alternatively, the quality of crunchiness in some circumstances. The smoothness might be such as is found in highly conched milk chocolate, for example; and the crunchiness might be such as that which is found in granulated sugar. However, such criteria are not generally capable of being incorporated into baked goods, flour confections, frozen confections, and the like. It is necessary to provide an appropriate carrier or vehicle; and the inventors herein have quite unexpectedly discovered that fat-based discrete flavoring additives having an anhydrous dextrose component will satisfy all of the requirements as they have been discussed above.
Specifically, in one embodiment of the present invention, the inventors have provided a fat-based carrier system which is anhydrous and which comprises a bakery-compatible oil that will exhibit substantially the same melting curve characteristic as that of butterfat or bakery shortening. That embodiment of the present invention provides chips, flakes, or chunks which are sufficiently solid at room temperature that they will not change their shape, they are such that natural flavoring ingredients may be incorporated thereinto, and thus they are capable of being used in baked and other flour-based confections.
In another embodiment of the present invention, similar criteria exist except that the chips, flakes, or chunks of discrete flavoring additive will have substantial solidity at about 5° C., and will have a noticeable snap characteristic. Such flavoring additives may be useful in snack items, and particularly in frozen confections such as ice cream.
It will, of course, be understood throughout this discussion that use of the words “chip”, “flake”, and “chunk”, imply that the manufactured fat-based discrete flavoring additives in keeping with the present invention may have the form of a chip such as is commonly found in chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and the like; or they may be in the form of a flake (that is, having a relatively small thickness when compared to its length and/or breadth); or in the form of a chunk (having a relatively large thickness when compared to its length and/or breadth). The precise manner of manufacture is beyond the scope of the present invention.
It follows that there are several criteria as to the fat which is used in the preparation of edible anhydrous fat-based discrete flavoring additives in keeping with the present invention. Specifically, the present invention calls for the use of an edible oil which will have a melting point somewhere between 20° C. and 40° C., and a melting curve characteristic measured on a nuclear magnetic resonance (N.M.R.) basis, such that it will have a 50% solid fat component and a 50% liquid fat component at a temperature which will be in the range of between 5° C. and 20° C. When the edible anhydrous fat-based discrete flavoring additives of the present invention are particularly intended for use with baked goods and flour-based confections, they will be manufactured using a bakery-compatible oil which will have a melting curve characteristic not dissimilar to that of butterfat or bakery shortening. On the other hand, particularly when the edible anhydrous fat-based discrete flavoring additives of the present invention are intended for use in use frozen confections such as ice cream, the edible oil which is used will be one having a depressed melting point. Of course, the fats that are used should, themselves, be substantially flavorless.
Of course, it is true that any oils or fats, and other ingredients that are used in the preparation of anhydrous fat-based discrete flavoring additives, in keeping with the present invention, must be compatible with requirements for controlled ingredient legends and other labelling provisions that are imposed upon food products.
The present invention provides flavoring additives whereby cinnamon or other natural flavoring ingredients that are compatible with sweetness may be carried into baked goods, flour-based confections, frozen confections, and snack items, while being suspended in an edible fat which has the form of a chip, flake, or chunk. In some circumstances, the edible oil which is used must be a bakery-compatible oil, when liquid, and it might be mixed with liquid butterfat. When the bakery compatible o
Choy Edward
Miller Van
Miller Vladimir
(Marks & Clerk)
Cargill Limited
Wong Leslie
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