Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Surface coated – fluid encapsulated – laminated solid... – Isolated whole seed – bean or nut – or material derived therefrom
Reexamination Certificate
2002-07-11
2003-12-09
Tran, Lien (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Surface coated, fluid encapsulated, laminated solid...
Isolated whole seed, bean or nut, or material derived therefrom
C426S496000, C426S572000, C426S658000, C426S659000, C426S660000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06660314
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to the field of flavored sugar fillings or jams for baked flour-based products, and in particular to flavored fillings comprising an amount of flavoring component and sugar in aqueous phase. The invention also relates to the baked flour-based product comprising such flavored filling.
BACKGROUND ART
Conventional fruit jams are known. Fruit jams (e.g., strawberry jams) are generally prepared by mixing fruit pulp with sugars, i.e., sucrose, and have a high moisture content. Water activity (“Aw”) reflects moisture content of a food product. For conventional fruit jam, Aw ranges from 0.7 to 0.8. Due to this high Aw, the moisture transfer from the jam to the baked flour based products (e.g., biscuits) is very high. The driving force for this moisture transfer is the difference in water activity between the jam and the initially drier biscuit. Therefore, water migrates rapidly from the jam to the biscuit because the biscuit has a lower water activity (e.g., an Aw of about 0.2) until the water activity equilibrium is attained. The time to reach this water activity equilibrium depends, among other factors, of the Aw of the jam, the percentage of jam in the biscuit, etc., but equilibrium is usually observed after few days of storage. Thus, conventional fruit jams cannot be used to produce a crispy biscuit since they rapidly “wet” the biscuit. As a consequence of the rapid loss of crisp texture, the filled product is not attractive for the consumer and it also has a poor shelf life with a stale taste.
Therefore, fruit jam-filled biscuits on the market are either “soft”, or they have non-aqueous fillings comprising vegetable fat plus colorings and flavorings.
Usually, in order to avoid sugar crystallization in the aqueous phase, the water activity of flavored fillings is lowered by the addition of non-sugar ingredients such as sorbitol, glycerol or other polyhydric alcohols. However, the polyhydric alcohols-based products suffer from flavor, taste and texture problems. Polyhydric-alcohols cause undesirable tastes in the filling although they are needed to drastically reduce the water activity. In some countries, the use of polyhydric alcohol in fillings prevents the manufacturer from labelling the product as a “jam”. Therefore, there is also a clearly perceivable demand for “clean labels” in the food packages that cannot be achieved by prior art products that use this alcohol.
EP 372,596 discloses cookies made with low Aw fiber-containing fillings. The filling has a very low water activity (0.2-0.35) so that crispness of the outer dough of the cookies is preserved. However, the filling comprises a significant amount of glycerine or propylene glycol (at least 16 wt. %) as a humectant, and this acts to reduce Aw. Such humectants are considered as non-natural additives that would be an obstacle to a “clean labelling” of the resulting products. These humectants also impart an artificial aftertaste, in particular a bitterness when propylene glycol is used. An undesirable fibrous texture is also imparted to the filling. Furthermore, at the given water activity level, the filling is not soft enough for still providing a pleasant mouthfeel and processability of the material is likely to be difficult.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,774,095 relates to a flavored filling for dough-based products comprising an aqueous phase, a sugar dissolved in the aqueous phase, a thixotropic cohesive network of cellulosic fibrils or microfibrils, an edible polyol as a humectant (at least 5 wt. %) and, a high methoxy pectin in the form of pectin gel lumps. This product has the same disadvantages with regard to poor texture due to the fiber and to poor taste due to the use of non-natural sugars in the filling as in the case of EP 372,596. Labelling may also be a problem for these type products.
EP 515,864 relates to low fat or no fat sugar based confections such as caramels that maintain micro-biological stability over shelf life. In order to replace fat, prevent sugar crystallization and to form a gel, the formulation employs a complex mixture of hydrocolloids that are both cationic and thermosensitive such as carrageenan, furcellarin and gellan.
Therefore, there remains a need for a low water activity aqueous filling for baked flour based products having the characteristics suitable to maintain crispness of baked product and softness of filling using only natural sugars to reduce Aw.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention provides a low water activity flavored filling with an excellent mouthfeel and palatability with no artificial aftertaste while also exhibiting a stable soft, non-crystallized and non-fibrous texture.
The invention also provides a low water activity flavored filling which has a long shelf life, preferably of 3 to 6 months, and which can preserve crispness of flour based products during this shelf life.
The invention also provides a low water activity flavored filling which is capable to be easily processed in standard available depositing and sandwiching machinery.
These features are provided in a soft and pumpable polyhydric alcohol-free flavored filling for a flour-based product comprising:
(a) an aqueous phase,
(b) a mixture of sugars dissolved in the aqueous phase wherein the sugars comprises fructose, glucose and sucrose in relative proportions which prevent crystallization of the filling and set water activity value of the filling from 0.38 to 0.47, and
(c) a flavoring and acidifying component in amount effective to lower the pH of the filling to below 5.
Another aspect of the invention relates to a baked flour based product comprising a flavored filling that comprises:
(a) an aqueous phase,
(b) a non-crystallized mixture of sugars dissolved in the aqueous phase wherein the mixture of sugars essentially consists of fructose, glucose and sucrose, and
(c) a flavoring and acidifying component in an amount effective to lower the pH of the filling to below 5, The filling preferably has a water activity value which prevents the baked flour based product from losing its crispness during at least 4 months of storage.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
It has been surprisingly found that a controlled combination of the three sugars with no significant addition of undesirable chemicals, such as the above-identified humectants, could produce a supersaturated solution of suitable water activity level in the range desired for significantly reducing moisture transfers while preventing sugars from crystallizing during an extensive period of time. The absence of crystallization has mainly two advantages: firstly, it gives a soft mouthfeel desired for an attractive product even after an extensive period of storage and secondly, it favors processing of the filling by increasing its processability.
Reducing Aw to such a low range means that relatively large amounts of soluble substances (i.e., sugars) must be added to the aqueous phase. Normal sugars such as glucose (or glucose syrups) and sucrose cannot be used alone or in combination due to their limited solubility that causes crystallization and also poor Aw-lowering properties. It must be noted that sugar concentration in the water phase of the filling must be well above solubility limits (i.e., they are supersaturated solutions) for obtaining the suitable water activity level. An important benefit of the invention is so to avoid the use of non-sugar ingredients in amounts significant to have efficient Aw-lowering properties and high solubility of the group of polyhydric alcohols; i.e., glycerol, sorbitol or other polyols.
It has been determined that the flavored filling of the invention advantageously comprises.
5 to 15 wt % of sucrose,
15 to 40 wt % of glucose,
10 to 50 wt % of fructose.
More preferably, it comprises
8 to 10 wt % of sucrose,
20 to 37 wt % of glucose,
15 to 45 wt % of fructose.
The given sugar percentages are to be considered as based on sugar dry equivalent.
Various sources of natural sugars to meet the given proportions can be used. Crystalline fructose can be used or other sources
Chirife Jorge
Scott De Martinville Jaswinder
Nestec S.A.
Tran Lien
Winston & Strawn LLP
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