Sugar – starch – and carbohydrates – Products – Sugars only
Patent
1995-11-13
1999-09-07
Bell, Mark L.
Sugar, starch, and carbohydrates
Products
Sugars only
127 39, 426658, 426659, 426660, 426443, 426520, C13F 300, C08B 3000, A23G 300, A23B 403
Patent
active
059481706
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fine sweetening agent, particularly fructose, glucose, a sugar alcohol or mixtures thereof, obtained by comminuting a corresponding crystalline material to a mean particle size of 5 to 25 .mu.m, a process for its production by counter-jet milling and classification, and its use in fondants, fillings, glazes, chocolate spreads, in the confectionery industry, specifically in chocolates, chewing-gums and dusting gum sticks, and as seed crystals in the industry preparing corresponding crystalline products. The invention also relates to products prepared using this fine sweetening agent.
2. Description of the Prior Art
With many edibles, it is desirable to replace sugar with a special sweetener. Such a sweetener may, for instance, have a lower caloric content than sucrose, be suitable for use by diabetics, and/or be dentally safe. Typical sweeteners of this kind are sugar alcohols, such as xylitol, sorbitol, lactitol, maltitol and isomalt. Fructose is an advantageous sweetener suitable for diabetics. Finely ground glucose may find use in pharmacy, for instance as a carrier.
In several applications, a sweetener must be very fine and also have a very uniform particle size. It is required of many ingested sweet products, for instance chocolate, that they sensorily have a velvety feel. This requires that the sweetener and the other solid ingredients in said products have a very small particle size. Thus for example in prepared chocolate, the proportion of grains having a size exceeding 30 .mu.m must be below 5% in order for the chocolate not to appear coarse to the tongue. This also applies to fondants employed for instance as frostings on bakery products and biscuit products (such as icings for iced doughnuts and gingerbread) and in confectionery fillings.
A sweetener having a grain size in the range 10 .mu.m-1 mm can be used for the production of chocolate when the production process is selected in accordance with the grain size. If the chocolate is produced by a process comprising mixing, rolling and conching of the ingredients, one rolling step, i.e. roll refining, is sufficient when the particle size of the sweetener is less than 200 .mu.m. In order for it to be possible to entirely omit the refining, the particle size of the sweetener must be less than about 20 .mu.m. In another chocolate process that is commonly used, a crumb-like pre-fabricate is prepared from part of the ingredients by heating them in the presence of water and evaporating the water; this pre-fabricate is called the crumb (cf. e.g. Minifie, B. W., Chocolate, Cocoa and Confectionery, second edition, AVI Publishing Company, Inc., Westport, Conn., 1982, pp. 108-113). The crumb is mixed with the other ingredients of the chocolate, refined, and conched. Also in this case the refining may be omitted, if the crumb is comminuted to a sufficient fineness prior to the addition of the other ingredients.
Fondants may be either wet fondants or dry fondants. Wet fondants comprise two phases: a solid phase formed by a fine sweetener and a syrup forming a liquid phase. Traditional wet fondants are produced either by cooling crystallization of the product into paste form or by adding the necessary liquid phase to a dry fondant. The production of a fondant and the problems associated with the storage of wet fondant have been discussed for instance in Lees, L. & Jackson, E. B., Sugar Confectionery and Chocolate Manufacture, Leonard Hill, 1973, in the section Fondants, Creams and Crystallized Confectionery (pp. 211-215). Storage problems are avoided by using dry fondants wherefrom a wet fondant may be prepared if desired, as stated previously. The conventional dry fondants comprise very fine sugar whereto a small amount of a polysaccharide doctoring/controlling the crystallization, and possibly also fat, has been added.
The production of fondants from sugar alcohols by cooling crystallization is very difficult. On the other hand, fructose and some sugar alcohols, such as
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Sander, Eugene H., Dr.; "Fluid Energy Mill, Looks Practical for Cake and Chocolate Premix"; Food Engineering International; vol. 2, No. 8; pp. 45-47; (1977). Month not available.
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Oravainen Juha
Yli-Kyyny Mauri
Bell Mark L.
Hailey Patricia L.
Xyrofin Oy
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