Food or edible material: processes – compositions – and products – Products per se – or processes of preparing or treating... – Basic ingredient lacteal derived other than butter...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-03-30
2004-03-16
Corbin, Arthur (Department: 1761)
Food or edible material: processes, compositions, and products
Products per se, or processes of preparing or treating...
Basic ingredient lacteal derived other than butter...
C426S588000, C426S631000, C426S660000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06706307
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to processes and ingredient formulations for preparing crumb products, particularly chocolate crumb products, which include milk solids and sweetener, for preparing chocolate products and to preparation of chocolate products with the crumb products.
Milk chocolate differs from dark or plain chocolate in that it contains milk solids and the essential part of a process for preparing milk chocolate is the method used to incorporate the milk solids. Milk chocolate is virtually moisture-free in that it contains from 0.5-1.5% water, while full cream milk contains about 87,5% water, the remainder being about 12.5% milk solids including fat.
One method of removing the 87.5% water from the milk is by evaporation of the liquid milk and drying to a powder, and a traditional method of producing milk chocolate is by mixing the milk powder together with cocoa liquor or cocoa nibs, sugar, and cocoa butter, followed by refining, conching and tempering.
Another method which results in removing the 87.5% water from milk is by condensing and drying a mixture comprising either liquid milk or milk concentrate together with sugar and cocoa liquor under vacuum and at elevated temperatures to produce a chocolate crumb powder. This process for making chocolate crumb was originally intended to preserve milk solids in a stable form over long periods of time, and the chocolate crumb is used as an intermediary product in another traditional method of production of milk chocolate which comprises mixing chocolate crumb with cocoa butter, followed by refining, conching and tempering.
One advantage of chocolate crumb powder is that it has excellent storage properties and prevents rancidity of the fats in the milk. This enables the chocolate crumb to be manufactured well in advance of the manufacture of the milk chocolate, and the crumb can be transported easily to any desired destination. In addition, the use of chocolate crumb instead of milk powder provides a rich, creamy partially caramelised flavor which has proved extremely desirable to a large number of consumers. Although milk is sometimes transported to chocolate factories where the crumb is produced, since milk soon turns sour, it is preferable to install the crumb factories in dairy farming rural regions where there is a steady supply of fresh liquid milk. Often the crumb factories are in chocolate factories in dairy regions.
It would be convenient to manufacture crumb-type chocolates in regions where it has not previously been feasible and attempts have been made to imitate the flavor produced by the crumb process using standard milk powders. However, none of these methods has yet produced an adequate substitute.
For example, Great Britain Complete Patent Specification No. 1 425 839 describes a method of manufacturing a milk chocolate, wherein the process steps comprise melting sugar by heating it to a temperature of between 188° and 210° C., mixing the heated, molten sugar with milk powder, and processing the mixture with other chocolate—making ingredients to form a milk chocolate. However, molten sugar is difficult to handle and requires a high energy input, amorphous sugar may be formed together with a high viscosity which could influence the texture and lead to non-desirable flavors at the high temperature used.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,622,342 describes a method for preparing chocolate crumb from milk solids by dry blending the milk solids with sugar and cocoa liquor and then extrusion—cooking the mixture in the presence of a little water at a temperature from about 104° to 127° C. for a period of from about 1-3 seconds followed by cooling and comminuting. The chocolate crumb may be used to produce milk chocolate by conventional methods. However, the capital cost of the extruder is very high, and the process reaction time is very short, which may inherently limit the range of flavors.
Great Britain Complete Patent Specification No. 1 537 377 describes a method of making a milk chocolate in which a mixture based on milk and sugar is prepared and then dried under reduced pressure to form a product of the crumb type which is compressed under a pressure of at least 100 kg/cm
2
and subsequently processed into milk chocolate. However, the process is only concerned with the production of white crumb, the vacuum/evaporation process is carried out at a temperature of only about 80° C., and at such a low temperature there will be little or no caramelisation and a restricted flavor.
German Patent Application Publication No. DE 35 02 446 describes a method for the preparation of chocolate crumb which comprises mixing milk powder and icing sugar and water at about 80° C. and then adding cocoa paste and heat to about 100° to 110° C. in a slowly revolving mixer (the water and heat being introduced in the form of steam through nozzles), followed by drying. However, the use of icing sugar is more expensive than ordinary sugar and gives a different texture. In addition, icing sugar causes the formation of large lumps which can increase the viscosity and cause blockages. Further, this document gives no indication of the reaction time nor the quantities of ingredients used, except the water.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
We have found that by reacting a mixture of ingredients which comprise milk solids and a sugar, and optionally cocoa solids, and which has a water content of from 1.2 to 8% in a mixer at a temperature of 85° to 180° C. for a period of from 2.5 to 25 minutes followed by drying to a moisture content of less than 3%, not only is an excellent crumb obtained for the preparation of chocolate products, but the flavor also can be tailored to requirements by adjusting the temperature, time and water content.
Accordingly, the present invention provides a process for the preparation of crumb products for preparing chocolate products which comprises adding together and mixing and heating ingredients which comprise milk solids and a sugar, in the absence or presence of cocoa solids, and wherein the ingredients have a water content of from 1.2 to 8% by weight based on the weight of the mixture, in a mixer to a temperature of 85° to 120° C., maintaining the mixture at a temperature of 85° to 180° C. for a period of from 2.5 to 25 minutes to obtain a heat-treated reaction product and then drying the reaction product to a moisture content of less than 3% by weight based on the total weight of the mixture.
The present invention also provides a concentrated crumb product comprising low-fat milk solids and sugar, and optionally cocoa solids, wherein the ratio of milk solids to sugar is between 1:15 and 1:0.1. When cocoa solids are present, the amount of cocoa solids in the concentrated chocolate crumb preferably is from 10 to 15% by weight based on the total weight of the mixture.
The present invention also provides a method for making a milk chocolate product which comprises mixing a crumb product prepared by the crumb-making process of the present invention with further ingredients (cocoa liquor, cocoa butter and butter oil) employed for making milk chocolate products and processing the ingredients to prepare a milk chocolate product such as wherein the mixture is refined by means of refining rollers, conched and then tempered.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
For practice of the crumb-making process of the present invention, the milk solids may comprise, for example, whole milk powder, whey proteins or low fat milk solids. The low fat milk solids preferably contain less than 5% by weight of fats, more preferably less than 2% by weight of fats and are most preferably skimmed milk powder, or ingredients thereof or recombined dairy solids. The amount of milk solids may be from 20 to 70% and preferably from 25 to 65% by weight based on the total weight of the mixture.
The sugar used is preferably in the form of a dry powder which may be crystalline or in the form of a slurry. The sugar used may be, for example, sucrose, glucose, dextrose, lactose, fructose, invert sugar, corn syrup solids or sugar replacers such as p
Armstrong Euan
Carli Sophie
Gibson Richard
Jercher Loreta
Samuel Brian
Corbin Arthur
Nestec S.A.
Winston & Strawn LLP
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