CA1091084A - Fats - Google Patents

Abstract

Abstract of the disclosure:-Edible fat intended for culinary purposes and having suitable melting characteristics specified is shaped in the form of uncoated spheres or cylinders in such dimensions that when packed together they can be readily parted without wastage.

Description

10 ~1 0 ~ ~ A.177 This invention relates to ~ats, ~ore especially to bakery iats which are normally plastic in consistency.
In the preparation o~ baked goods the fats used are oiten plastic in consistency at a~bient te~peratures, that is up to about 25C. According to use, these fats ~ay consist o~ mixed ~at co~ponents ~ro~ one or more sources o~ vegetable or animal fats, or emulsions of ~at and water such as ~argarines. Special ~at for~ulations are devised for such purposes as the preparation o~ pu~i pastry, cakes and bread, but in general a plastic consistency is required at temperatures up to about 25C at which the pastry or other mix is worked in the bakery beiore being baked.
Solid fats for such purposes are com~only supplied to the cook in the ~orm of slabs or blocks which ~or use ~ust be cut into s~aller pieces to ~ollow the recipe accurately and produce a pastry or other ~ix io which the ~at is uni~ormly distributed.
Ii the fat i9 supplied in pre-cut ~orm, provision has had to be made in the past to prevent the pieces sticking together in the package and thus losing their identity. According to our British Patent 1,170,081, plastic cooking fat is supplied in the ~orm oi rods provided with a coating o~ particles of hard iat and are packed into a container. According to our British Patent 1,170,082, cooking fat is provided in the ~orm of strands having an edible non-sel~-adhesive coating, while in our British Patent 1,238,336, pre-cut pieces o~ rods of cooking ~at are coated with a substantially coherent homogeneous layer o~ a ) ;, , ~ . .

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109~4 A.177 ~atty coatiag ~aterial which is suiiiciently soiter or harder than the cooking iat ior the pieces to be stored in contact with each other without sticking inseparably together.
We have now iound that plastic cooking iat baving a suitable consi~tency range can be packed in the ~orm oi cylindrical or spherical pieces which without special suriace treatment will nevertheless not stick inseparably together providing that the di~ensions oi the pieces are between prescribed limits.
According to the present invention thereiore iat pieces suitable ior use in pastry and other bakery mixes comprise a iat composition having a slip melting point oi at least 32C and a dilatation at 20C oi at least 600, the iat piecesjbeing oi cylindrical or spherical shape with a diameter oi irom 10 to 60 ; 15 ~m and length ior cylindrical pieces oi irom 20 to 150 mm, the pieces being diametrically homogeneous and packed loosely togetber at least iour at a time.
The composition oi the iat pieces according to the invention is homogeneous across the diameter, in contrast to the 2Q pieces already described elsewbere, in which a coating layer, eitber coherent with the bulk oi the iat or dusted or otherwise applied separately thereto, is provided. While the pieces according to the invention may stick together in the bag or package in wbich they are loose, at ambient temperatures, i.e. up to 25C they are readily prized apart without losing their identity ; and usually without breakage, since there is normally only line ',:
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' . ~ ~ ` ' lV~ A.177 contact in the case of cylindrical pieces and point contact ior spherical pieces. Suitable regular cylindrical pieces are 30 mm in circular diameter and 50 to 70 mm long but the corresponding preferred dimensions are from 10 to 60 mm and around 20 to 150 mm respectively. They are prererably made by extrusion. Where as is customary the fat or margarine composition for the ~at pieces i~ prepared in a B scraped surface heat exchanger (~otator A unit) in which the composition is crystallised by chilling ~ollowed by passage through resting tubes (B units), the ~at pieces may be e~truded through an ori~ice plate located in the outlet of the B unit, the extruded pieces being cut o~
as required by a transverse kni~e or wire which may be heated. Spherical pieces may be cast.
~he diameter of the ~at pieces may be uni~orm or variable, providing that the minimum diameter requirement is observed. Cylindrical pieces may be tapered along their length and they also exhibit a variable sectional diameter with the same proviso, providing a dumb-bell, trefoil or other polyioliated lobate section, instead o~
the circular cross-section oi a regular cylinder.
~imilarly spherical ~at pieces may be oblate or prolate spheroids.
In addition to the required minimum slip melting point and dilatation at 20C, pre~erably the fat pieces e~hibit the following dilatations: D20 600 to 2000, D30 200 to 500 and D35 0 to 500. The ~at composition ~1~ Tra~ k ~ - 4 ~ . , .-~ A.177 may comprise animal, vegetable or marine iats which may be hardened, iractionated or interestiiied as required.
Animal iats are preierred and include lard and beei or tallow mutton, and vegetable iats, palm, palm stearine or soyabean oil. Permitted emulsiiiers and other additives may be present. In a particular example beei tallow was blended with approximately iour times its weight oi lard, half oi which was previously hydrogenated to a slip melting point oi 46C, and 0.5~ Or monodiglyceride emulsirier prepared irom soyabean oil iatty acids.
Aiter working in a Votator unit assembly consisting oi two A units in series with an exit temperature oi 12C
and iour B units in series/parallel equipped with two texturiser units in series and providing an extrusion temperature oi 20 to 21C through oririces 30 mm diameter, the product was cut into cylindrical bloc~s 30 mm ~iameter and 50 to 70 mm long, having a slip melting point oi 43.5C and a dilatation at 20C of 1200. In this speciiication dilatation values refer to the isothermal expansion Or a iat in mm3 at a particular temperature determined by the method described in British Patent Speciiication No. 827 172, reierring to 25 gms of iat.

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1~9i~4 A.177 It will thus be seen that the invention provides uncoated cooking fat pieces suitable for separably packing together and comprising a fat composition having a slip melting point of at least 32C and a dilation at 20C of at least 600, the fat pieces being spherical or cylindrical with a diameter from lO to 60 mm and length for cylindrical pieces from 20 to 150 mm.

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Claims (8)

THE EMBODIMENTS OF THE INVENTION IN WHICH AN EXCLUSIVE PROPERTY
OR PRIVILEGE IS CLAIMED ARE DEFINED AS FOLLOWS:

1. Uncoated cooking fat pieces suitable for separably packing together and comprising a fat composition having a slip melting point of at least 32°C and a dilatation at 20°C of at least 600, the fat pieces being spherical or cylindrical with a diameter from 10 to 60 mm and length for cylindrical pieces from 20 to 150 mm.

2. Cylindrical fat pieces according to Claim 1 having a lobate section.

3. Regular cylindrical fat pieces according to Claim 1 or 2 having a circular diameter from 10 to 60 mm and a length from 20 to 150 mm.

4. Fat pieces according to Claim 1, in which the fat composi-tion has a dilatation at 20°C from 600 to 2000, at 30°C from 200 to 500 and at 35°C up to 500.

5. Fat pieces according to Claim 1, in which the fat composi-tion includes an emulsifier.

6. Fat pieces according to Claim 1, in which the fat composi-tion consists of animal fat.

7. Fat pieces according to Claim 6 comprising lard and/or hydrogenated lard.

8. An assortment of fat pieces as claimed in Claim 1, loosely assembled in a bag or a container.