DE2550423A1 - Alginate-contg. foodstuffs - produced by water-swelling of soluble alginate in presence of cations forming poorly soluble alginate salts - Google Patents

Abstract

Foodstuffs suitable for use as fodder, foods, food substitutes or food additives are produced using a water-soluble alginate by a process in which the alginate in powder form, opt. together with a nutrient substance (e.g. protein, albumin) is mixed with water while an acidifying agent and a cpd. which can release into the aq. soln. cations which form a poorly soluble salt with alginic acid are added, the swelling being terminated by the addition of a salt to the solution when the alginate granules have swollen to the desired size without reaching the gel state, so that the alginate granules (at least on their surface) have been converted by ion-exchange into a poorly soluble salt. The water-soluble alginate is pref. sodium or potassium alginate. The acidifying agent is pref. citric acid. The cations forming a poorly soluble alginate are pref. calcium ions. Method is useful for prodn. of food and feed products having a granular texture e.g. resembling fish roes or caviare). Since the hardness of th granules can be controlled within a wide range by variation of the process conditions, a wide range of natural food textures can be imitated.

Description

"Foods and Their Preparation" The present invention relates to Foods which are suitable as food for animals and humans and which are exemplary are suitable as nutrients or substitutes for nutrients or additives to nutrients and which are based on so-called alginates. The invention also relates to the products thus obtained.

It is common knowledge that new types of food are based on different Because of being developed, products being reproduced in large quantities in nature are used in their manufacture.

The main problem in this regard is products too find that are stable in storage, have a good taste and that with their Digestion does not cause any undesirable side effects. In this context For example, the consistency of the product is essential, mainly for psychological reasons. Often efforts are made to manufacture products that have a structure that deviates from a purely pasty or liquid form and this fact limits the choice of starting material.

During the last few years one has become very general with the food supply busy, and in order to solve the future problems in this field, it is essential to create new foods. These should be technical in scope can be produced without using living tissue as the starting material can be obtained by extinguishing animal or plant species, or that one some kind of reproductive material, especially not such reproductive material, such as roe, is used.

The present invention aims to provide nutrients for disposal to provide which can be manufactured from raw materials on a technical scale, without their use having the disadvantages mentioned above.

The present invention therefore relates to foods in more granular form Shape, mimicking the shape of roe or caviar, for example.

It has now surprisingly been found according to the present invention, that a structurally particularly favorable food is made from an alginate which, in the form of a powder, has the ability to absorb in water swell up by water. The invention is based on the fact that you can only go up to such a Extent can swell that the swollen grains are still separated and each other do not fuse into a gel-like state. The swelling of the grains will suitably interrupted by adjusting the recipe of the The mixture swells by itself with regard to the water and salt content Mixing the components or stopping by adding salt. The aqueous Solution containing the alginate grains either initially contain cations that Form sparingly soluble alginates with alginic acid, being a sparingly soluble alginate by increasing the ion concentration of the solution is precipitated, or it can be a Salt with appropriate cations can be added to the solution to prevent swelling to interrupt.

In connection with the manufacture of the product one appropriately gives an acidifying agent that the pH of the solution to a suitable value and the one Seems to have an impact on the appearance and structure of the end product, other desired additives such as flavorings, nutritional or feed additives, Trace elements, etc. can also be added.

In a preferred embodiment of the method of this invention one makes a mixture of alginate, acidifying agent and a compound that can release the desired cations, optionally together with additives specified type, and then brings the mixture with water in the desired amount in contact.

The amount of water can be adjusted to match the water content of the final product, thereby creating the swollen stabilized alginate grains do not have to be separated from the aqueous phase, but all of the constituents supplied do including water can be found in the final product.

The alginate process of this invention enables the manufacture of granular products that contain digestible proteins in addition to alginate. The alginate content can therefore only make up a smaller part of the end product and the alginate can also be used as al. Address granulation substance, through the proteins into a granular form using only a small fraction can be transferred from alginate.

Any non-toxic acid can be used as the acidifying agent in particular organic acids such as citric acid, malic acid, tartaric acid etc. Of the preferred compounds which are used to deliver the desired cations Calcium compounds in particular are capable of forming alginates with low solubility valuable.

Among the preferred calcium salts are calcium chloride, calcium lactate, Mention calcium tartrate.

In the investigations with regard to this invention it was found that a weakly acidic pE in connection with the swelling of the alginate grains thereby can be maintained that one uses a compound that is in an aqueous Solution can give off cations, which together with alginic acid are only slight in water form soluble salt, namely a salt of an organic acid that is not completely is neutralized. Examples of such salts are calcium citrate, calcium tartrate, calcium lactate, Calcium succinate and the like.

To make it easier to mix the components in question, it is preferred in certain cases to add a dispersant. One such Funds can be in dry solid form, for example as dextrose in the form of a powder or in liquid form, for example as ethyl alcohol in which case the pergant can then be used, the starting alginate moisten. Another dispersant is glycerol monostearate.

The invention is particularly suitable for the production of caviar-like Products and in this case it is expedient to use sodium alginate in dry State in the form of a powder. Such a sodium alginate is mixed in Calcium lactate, citric acid, and cane sugar, all of these materials being the same in the form of powders to form a uniform mixture.

This mixture is then brought with a set amount of water with continuous stirring, whereupon when the sodium alginate grains in are swollen to the desired extent, sodium chloride is added, whereby the swelling is interrupted, the product recovered and used as such can.

It seems particularly favorable in terms of the properties of the to be obtained product that one adds such an amount of acidifying agent, that a pH of about 5 is obtained in the aqueous mixture. A suitable acidulant is citric acid, although of course the invention is not intended to be used alone this Acid is restricted.

There is another embodiment of the present invention a heat-coagulable protein in a relatively small amount with the mixing of the components, wherein the protein contained in the product is obtained after the liginate swells. The purpose of adding albumin consists in adding the product to it either by simply heating it with stirring modify that the structure is changed or by conventional heating that To sterilize material in such a way that it can be regarded as fully preserved. the Adding albumin allows the material to be heated without affecting its structure Gasification of the water trapped in the product and to destroy the albumin therefore acts as a fixative while coagulating when heated crude product forms.

Protein for this pizzeria effect can be all types of heat-coagulable Proteins are used. Albumins can therefore be used successfully according to the invention can be used, such as serum albumin, egg albumin, milk albumin, leukosine. Furthermore, globulins can be used, for example myosinogen, fibrinogen, Serum globulin, egg globulin, edestin, legumin and amandin. libumine, such as Egg albumin and milk albumin are particularly preferred. The protein is in a relatively small amount of the order of a few percent, based on the final product, added and a useful weight range is about 0.5- 2% by weight, especially about 1% by weight.

The invention further relates to foods based on them of alginates, these products being characterized in that they are more granular Shape and the separation of the grains is effected by an outer layer, which is an alginate with a low solubility in water, for example calcium alginate, contains. This outer layer encloses a core, at least for the greater part contains an alginate that is more soluble in water than the sparingly soluble alginate. The material of the core can suitably consist of sodium alginate. The product can also be in a form suitable for packaging in cans as a fully canned product is suitable and it contains distributed in a coagulated albumin, for example coagulated egg white.

The present invention has compared to the prior art significant advantages in relation to the treatment of alginates. The previous drip method consists in that an aqueous solution of alginate, for example sodium ainate, drop into an aqueous solution of, for example, calcium chloride or calcium lactate lets, whereby the sodium ions of the sodium alginate by ion exchange with calcium ions forming a difficult soluble calcium alginate. This gives more or less spherical balls of alginate, which with regard to are not particularly well suited for food production because of their hardness. However, the product of the present invention can have the desired level of hardness by adjusting the procedure so that naturally nutrients resp. Food can be mimicked to a very high degree.

As the starting material in the present invention, any Kind of alginate mentioned, which undergoes water absorption upon contact with water swells. Alginates such as sodium, potassium, magnesium, ammonium, and low amine alginates which are wholly water-soluble can be used. Particularly Sodium alginates are suitable for use with regard to tolerability of sodium ions. Bivalent and trivalent alginates are used to form low-soluble alginates Cations, apart from magnesium, are valuable, calcium being a particularly suitable cation is.

Suitable weight ratios of the different components, which can be used to produce the nutrients according to this invention, are given in the table below. The ranges given are parts by weight, based on 500 parts by weight of water.

Component weight range (based on 500 500 parts by weight of water) Alginate 5 - 30 Calcium or another salt 5 - 100 meq.

Acidifier In an amount that you get one from 4 - 6.5 in the Solution contains dispersant (optional) 5-100 protein (optional) 0-75 of these heat coagulant (optional) 1 - 15 The wide range in terms of dispersant is due to the wide variety of means. So if, for example a solid, powdery dispersant such as dextrose can be used in this Case a relatively large amount can be added, while on the other hand when using of a liquid dispersant, for example of ethyl alcohol, this only in an amount must be added that a homogeneous moistening of the alginate is achieved.

The invention is described by means of the non-limiting examples.

Example 1 Preparation of a caviar-like product by dry blending a powdered milk is made of the following composition her: sodium alginate 15 parts by weight calcium lactate 4 parts by weight malic acid 0.7 Parts by weight About 500 parts by weight are added to the mixture obtained with stirring Water to, where the 'p pH of the mixture by the content of acid in the Brings mixture to about 5. Upon contact with water, the individual granules of sodium alginate swell with absorption of water and the formation of globules of increasing size.

The presence of calcium ions in the solution causes swelling delays and prevents the mixture from turning into a gel when the particles are swollen to the desired size. There are therefore particles with a surface layer formed by calcium alginate of low solubility.

With a view to the fact that the amounts of the mixture and of water are adjusted The water is completely absorbed by the swelling of the sodium alginate particles instead, so that all of the starting materials are in the final product. This one has one granular structure strikingly similar to caviar made from roe is. If you want to color the product, a dye can be added to the water added to mixing with the powder mixture.

The product obtained in the example given can be complete or partially replace the conventional caviar in the form as it is currently on the Market, packaged in tubes, is available.

Example 2 Preparation of a caviar-like, tinned, Product Make a powdery mixture of the same composition as in Example 1, adding 500 parts by weight to the powder mixture obtained with stirring Adding water. The water is preceded by 15 parts by weight of hydrolyzed fish protein and 5 parts by weight of protein. Stirring is used throughout the procedure continued and the mixture gradually receives after complete swelling of the Alginates have a granular structure.

The granular mass obtained can be used as such or together with natural Roe packaged in cans and canned using conventional heating sterilized, whereby the albumin coagulates. Due to the presence of albumin the bursting of the individual grains as a result of their water content, the gasified under the heating conditions, prevents and the product remains in its initially granular structure, despite the heat sterilization.

If you want to give the product a desired color, gives a suitable dye is added to the water beforehand. If necessary, can Flavors either in the powdered mixture or in the water added to the mixing.

Patent Claims:

Claims (11)

Claims: 1. Process for the production of food, those used as feed, nutrients, substitutes or additives for nutrients and the like are suitable and in which the starting material is a water-soluble alginate used, d u r c h e k e n n n n e i c h n e t that the alginate is in powder form, optionally together with a nutrient substance, e.g. protein, albumin, with water while mixing an acidulant and a compound that adds cations to the can give aqueous solution, which together with alginic acid is only slightly soluble Forming salt, when the alginate grains in the aqueous solution to the desired size are swollen without reaching the gel state, the swelling is terminated or interrupted by the addition of a salt to the solution so that the alginate grains at least on the surface by ion exchange to one only slightly soluble salt can be converted, and that you then the product obtained wins. 2. The method according to claim 1, d a d u r c h g e -k e n n z e i c Not that you can use a mixture of alginate, acidifying agent and cation donor Compound, optionally together with additives desired in the product, such as Flavors, food or putter additives, etc. manufactures, whereby one then the mixture with Water in the desired amount in contact brings. 3. The method according to claim 2, d a d u r c h g e -k e n n z e i c This means that the amount of water is adjusted so that it corresponds to the content of the end product is equivalent to. 4. The method according to any one of the preceding claims for production of a caviar-like product, d a -d u r c h e k e n n n n e i c h n e t that sodium alginate in a dry state with calcium lactate, citric acid and cane sugar, all of these starting materials being used in powder form to form a uniform mixture mixes this mixture with a set amount Bringing water into contact with constant stirring, and when the sodium alginate grains swollen to the desired size, adding sodium chloride to the swelling interrupt and the product wins. 5. The method according to any one of claims 1-4, d a -d u r c h g e it is not indicated that the acidifying agent is mixed in in such an amount that that the pH of the aqueous mixture is about 5. 6. The method according to claim 5, d a d u r c h g e -k e n n z e i c It does not mean that citric acid is used as an acidifying agent. 7. The method according to any one of the preceding claims. d u r c h e k e n n n z e i c h n e t that one can just as well be heat-coagulated Protein is mixed in, as a result of which the product obtained is heated and packaged as a fully canned product canned, can be used. 8. Product manufactured by the process according to one of the preceding Expectations. 9. Alginate-based foodstuffs i o n e t that it is in the form of a granular or granular product, wherein the individual grains have an outer layer which contains an alginate, which is only slightly soluble in water and the outer layer encloses a core, the greater part of which consists of a more water-soluble alginate. 10. Food according to claim 9, d a d u r c h ge k e n n z e i c h n e t that the outer layer contains calcium alginate and that the more soluble Alginate is sodium or potassium alginate. 11. Food according to claim 9 or 10, d a -d u r c h g e k It is noted that there is some coagulated material still dispersed in the product Contains protein.