Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Fat or oil is basic ingredient other than butter in emulsion...
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-26
2001-05-15
Paden, Carolyn (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Fat or oil is basic ingredient other than butter in emulsion...
C426S601000, C426S613000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06231913
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to food product dressings and to methods for preparing food product dressings. In particular, the present invention relates to food product dressings which are oil-in-water emulsions having an aqueous external phase and an oil internal phase, methods for preparing these food product dressings, and methods for increasing the viscosity and physical stability of these food product dressings.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Many salad dressings, vegetable dips, sauces, and other pourable or spoonable food products are oil-in-water emulsions, which may have different product properties, such as viscosity, physical stability or Theological (flowing) behavior. An emulsion is a preparation established with the use of an emulsifying agent of a deformable liquid (the internal or discontinuous phase) distributed in small globules throughout the body of a second liquid (the external or continuous phase). The continuous phase of the emulsion forms a layer adsorbed around the globules of the discontinuous phase. This modifies the forces of cohesion between these globules, and the forces between these globules and the continuous phase. The globules of the discontinuous phase are held together by London-van der Walls attraction forces, and often form aggregates. Usually, the emulsifier is dissolved, or dispersed, in the continuous phase. An oil-in-water emulsion has oil as the discontinuous phase and an aqueous solution as the continuous phase.
It is beneficial to increase the viscosity of spoonable or pourable oil-in-water emulsion food products because such an increase in the viscosity permits the food products to achieve a desired level of viscosity (i.e., a desired degree of friction between component molecules as they slide by one another) with the use of smaller quantities of oil. The reduced quantity of oil which becomes necessary for the preparation of these food products advantageously results in a cost savings for preparing the food products and, thus, in reduced-cost food products. Additionally, the viscosity of oil-in-water emulsion food products is generally positively correlated with the physical stability of the food products. Thus, oil-in-water emulsion food products having a higher viscosity will generally also be more stable. It is beneficial to control the stability and rheology of food products which are oil-in-water emulsions because such control permits the preparation of food products having enhanced flavor and texture qualities.
Using the formulations, processing steps, and conditions of the methods described herein, in which specified amounts of specified ingredients are processed in specified orders at specified temperatures and reaction conditions, the viscosity of oil-in-water emulsion food products can advantageously be increased beyond the viscosity which would otherwise have been achieved for the food products. This increase in the bulk viscosity can surprisingly be accomplished by lowering, rather than by increasing, the viscosity of the continuous phase (i.e., the serum phase) of the emulsion. In the conventional preparation of oil-in-water emulsions, in contrast, the bulk viscosity of a the oil-in-water emulsion is generally increased by increasing, rather than by decreasing, the viscosity of the continuous phase of the emulsion. Such an increase in such conventional systems is normally achieved by adding hydrocolloids, carbohydrates or similar materials to the continuous phase of the emulsion. These materials bind the water and, thereby, increase the viscosity of the continuous phase, and of the final oil-in-water emulsion.
Because the oil-in-water emulsion food product dressings of the present invention achieve a desired level of viscosity (and physical stability) with the use of smaller quantities of oil than that which would normally be required, the costs for producing these dressings is advantageously reduced.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides food product dressings and methods for making such food product dressings. The bulk viscosities of the food product dressings of this invention are achieved by lowering, rather than by increasing, the viscosity of the continuous phase (i.e., the serum phase) of the emulsion. More specifically, the present invention provides a food product dressing prepared by a process comprising:
(a) preparing a composition of (1) from about 0.15 to about 1.0 weight percent of a suspending agent; (2) from about 0.5 to about 25 weight percent of a dairy source, wherein the temperature of the diary source ranges from about 35° F. to about 80° F.; (3) from about 0.05 to about 3.5 weight percent of an edible acid, wherein the edible acid maintains the pH of the dressing at below about 4.0; (4) from about 0 to about 0.5 weight percent of an emulsifier; (5) from about 15 to about 95 weight percent of water, wherein the temperature of the water ranges from about 35° F. to about 80° F.; (6) from about 0.50 to about 5.0 weight percent of egg yolk; (7) from about 0 to about 20 weight percent of sugar; (8) from about 0 to about 10 weight percent of salt; and (9) from about 0 to about 15 weight percent of spices and natural or artificial flavors, wherein the temperature of the composition remains from about 50° F. to about 80° F.; (b) mixing the composition of (a) for a period of time which is sufficient to hydrate the suspending agent to become hydrated, wherein the temperature of the composition during the mixing remains from about 50° F. to about 80° F.; (c) adding from about 10 to about 80 weight percent of an oil to the mixed composition of (b) to form a pre-emulsion, wherein the temperature of the oil ranges from about 35° F. to about 80° F., and wherein the temperature during the addition remains from about 50° F. to about 80° F.; and (d) emulsifying the pre-emulsion to form an oil-in-water emulsion, wherein the temperature during the formation of the oil-in-water emulsion remains from about 50° F. to about 80° F.
The present invention also provides a method for preparing a dressing for food products, said method comprising: (a) preparing a composition of (1) from about 0.15 to about 1.0 weight percent of a suspending agent; (2) from about 0.5 to about 25 weight percent of a dairy source, wherein the temperature of the dairy source ranges from about 35° F. to about 80° F.; (3) from about 0.05 to about 3.5 weight percent of an edible acid, wherein the edible acid maintains the pH of the dressing at below about 4.0; (4) from about 0 to about 80 weight percent of an emulsifier; (5) from about 15 to about 95 weight percent of water, wherein the temperature of the water ranges from about 35° F. to about 80° F.; (6) from about 0.5 to about 5.0 weight percent of egg yolk; (7) from about 0 to about 20 weight percent of sugar; (8) from about 0 to about 10 weight percent of salt; and (9) from about 0 to about 15 weight percent of spices and natural or artificial flavors, wherein the temperature of the composition remains from about 50° F. to about 80° F.; (b) mixing the composition of (a) for a period of time which is sufficient to hydrate the suspending agent, wherein the temperature during the mixing remains from about 50° F. to about 80° F.; (c) adding from about 10 to about 80 weight percent of an oil to the mixed composition of (b) to form a pre-emulsion, wherein the temperature of the oil ranges from about 35° F. to about 80° F., and wherein the temperature during the addition remains from about 50° F. to about 80° F.; and (d) emulsifying the pre-emulsion to form an oil-in-water emulsion, wherein the temperature during the formation of the oil-in-water emulsion remains from about 50° F. to about 80° F.
By controlling the temperature of the composition within the specified ranges during both the suspending agent (i.e., gum) hydration step and the emulsification step, the bulk viscosity of the resulting composition is increased while the viscosity of the continuous or serum phase is decreased. Moreover, the amount of oil required is significantly reduced. Generally, the
Gaonkar Anil Kumar
Hill Steve
Schwimmer William
Stanford Marlene
Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery
Kraft Foods Inc.
Paden Carolyn
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