Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Product with added vitamin or derivative thereof for...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-05
2003-03-18
Pratt, Helen (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Product with added vitamin or derivative thereof for...
C426S074000, C426S092000, C426S103000, C426S516000, C426S518000, C426S634000, C426S641000, C426S656000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06534102
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to small bits of highly flavored food particulates with a fully developed crunchy matrix containing various seasonings imbedded, interwoven, layered, and encapsulated by a well-developed protein and carbohydrate matrix having a protein content of between about 15 and 65 percent by weight of the total recipe.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The food industry is in a state of continuous change and readjustment based on the needs and demands of an ever-changing market. Special attention has recently been given to high protein/low carbohydrate foods for their ability to help develop muscle tissue without the problem of gaining excess weight. At the same time, many are concerned that the foods made with such composition do not have good flavor or texture or are in most cases not palatable by common consumer. This has retarded the shift in the eating habits for the final consumer and frustrated the industry to advance in the area of nutraceutical foods.
The second area of use for such products is in the area of recovery for individuals or animals that have been injured and require high quality and proteins combined with good herbs, vitamin and mineral foods in order to improve healing in a shorter time frame. A major concern of such products that contain low carbohydrates is the development of side effects due to extensive reliance on such diets for a long period of time. The side effects may include high levels of ketones in the blood stream, the sense of a lack of energy, the development of diarrhea, and finally a complete shutting down of the kidney function.
Applicant knows of no baking or extruded bits which are formulated or marketed that would carry the textural profile and are used in baking or direct consumption, with the exception of chocolate, butterscotch, or peanut butter flavored chips or food bits. The above-described chips and food bits are mainly used in the baking industry to enhance only a flavor to the final food item.
No product has been found in the market place that utilizes the high protein matrix to provide a vegetarian or gluten allergenic consumer with a crunchy high protein product to enhance or deliver a given flavor or spice taste.
There are sauces in the industry, such as A-1 Steak Sauce, that bring forth a given flavor or seasoning to completely cooked foods. In the area of salad toppings, the only products that are used for such application are bacon bits, imitation bacon bits, or seasoned crotons. None of these products are designed to carry a very high concentration of seasonings and herbs as an additional source of flavor to the main dish, nor are they designed to hold their crunchy texture in high-moisture heated foods.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,643,907 describes a product, which is used in baking as flavored chips. This product contains non-sweet savory flavored baking chips, which are used for variety of food items such as cookies cakes and others. The art discloses the matrix of such products not to be a protein-based but a carbohydrate-based matrix, which becomes easily hydrated and dissolved in a high moisture environment. Presently, this type of product is marketed as flavor bits which are in a form of flavored pieces such as blueberry, strawberry, cinnamon, and the like to be incorporated into breads and cakes, such as muffins or bagels, and baked. During the baking, the flavor chip is melted and the final product such as the muffin is then spotted with blueberry-flavored areas. There is no step to preserve the crunchiness of the chip in the final matrix. Although these chips may carry various savory or sweet flavoring, the final usage of the carbohydrate-based chips is for a completely different purpose other than having a crunchy-full-of-flavor topping that keeps their crunchy texture as well as identity under baking conditions.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,910,031 describes an art to improve savory snack foods including a no sweet, sugar-based binder, which adheres one or more toppings to a base portion of the snack. The art describes a binder or a glue like product that may be sprayed on the surface of the snack chips in order to assist in the adhesion of other seasonings or flavorings to the surface of the chip. This invention does not refer itself to particulates that are crunchy and stay crunchy under a variety of conditions and are the main carrier of seasonings and flavorings.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,974,032 describes a low D.E. starch hydrolysate having a D.E. not substantially above 20. This is a relatively narrow molecular weight distribution as its average molecular weight to the average number of molecules is less than about 20, said hydrolysate being further characterized as containing less than about 20 percent by weight, dry basis, of starch oligosaccharides having a degree of polymerization greater than about 200. Based on the above description, we conclude that the product in this art is very specific containing a very low D.E. value, and is used in order to deliver specific flavoring, which is achieved via production of such a narrow D.E. values.
Such products are developed and are marketed in order to duplicate a given natural flavor such as chicken, beef, etc. By use of single cell brewers yeast and fractionation of such particulates as to be able to remove and segregate the plasma of such organisms, the final product can duplicate such flavors as chicken, beef, etc. due to the length of such molecules, which have been isolated. There are many other methods of developing such artificial flavoring, which would mimic the real product. In our invention the purpose is not to duplicate a flavoring but to form a matrix, which can be a deliverer of seasonings and flavorings as well as holding its crunchiness during its usage in the heating or consuming process.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,084,298 refers to a product, which is a non-sweet savory flavored snack composition comprising of non-sweet carbohydrates, a bulking agent, and a savory flavoring agent. This product deals with a final finished snack product, which has been heated and cooked with a savory seasoning or flavoring in the presence of a bulking agent. The final product mentioned in this patent does not have any of the characteristics that are present in our application and its basic makeup is nothing but a carbohydrate-based snack that contains in its matrix savory flavorings and is mildly seasoned to be consume as is, without accompanying any other food. Our application is specific in that the product is not a snack, but that it contains a high seasoning base both in its proteinatious matrix as well as on its surface to carry both crunchiness as well as the strong seasoning flavor to a food item via topical application.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,021,249 refers to an invention, which consists of a free flowing savory flavor granule, comprised of a core composition having made up of non-sweet carbohydrates and a coating on to the core base comprised of a savory flavor. This product may be used in the same manner as the application referred to in our invention, and its use may be topical during consumption of the final food. However, it indicates that its matrix is a carbohydrate-based and not a proteinacious-based matrix. Thus, the crunchy texture of the final product during heating of the bits is not of concern to this invention.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention is a method of making high protein savory or sweet seasoning bits. A protein source, a carbohydrate source, and a fat source, are mixed together to produce a base mixture. At least one seasoning component is mixed into the base mixture at levels of 4-40% of the total recipe. The base mixture is passed through an extruder whereby the protein matrix is developed and the seasoning is heated and incorporated as part of the matrix. The base mixture is passed through a die chamber to shape and cut the base mixture. The extruded and cut bits are then treated with oils and fats which carry additional seasoning at very high levels of 4-40%, making the final product a pocket of seasoning with high flavor profi
Patterson Thuente, Skaar & Christensen, PA
Pratt Helen
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