Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES A21D OR A23B-A23J; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OF NUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL
  • A23L2/00—Non-alcoholic beverages; Dry compositions or concentrates therefor; Their preparation
  • A23L2/52—Adding ingredients
  • A23L2/56—Flavouring or bittering agents
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES A21D OR A23B-A23J; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OF NUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL
  • A23L19/00—Products from fruits or vegetables; Preparation or treatment thereof
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES A21D OR A23B-A23J; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OF NUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL
  • A23L27/00—Spices; Flavouring agents or condiments; Artificial sweetening agents; Table salts; Dietetic salt substitutes; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L27/10—Natural spices, flavouring agents or condiments; Extracts thereof
  • A23L27/115—Natural spices, flavouring agents or condiments; Extracts thereof obtained by distilling, stripping, or recovering of volatiles
• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A23—FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS; TREATMENT THEREOF, NOT COVERED BY OTHER CLASSES
  • A23L—FOODS, FOODSTUFFS, OR NON-ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES, NOT COVERED BY SUBCLASSES A21D OR A23B-A23J; THEIR PREPARATION OR TREATMENT, e.g. COOKING, MODIFICATION OF NUTRITIVE QUALITIES, PHYSICAL TREATMENT; PRESERVATION OF FOODS OR FOODSTUFFS, IN GENERAL
  • A23L27/00—Spices; Flavouring agents or condiments; Artificial sweetening agents; Table salts; Dietetic salt substitutes; Preparation or treatment thereof
  • A23L27/10—Natural spices, flavouring agents or condiments; Extracts thereof
  • A23L27/12—Natural spices, flavouring agents or condiments; Extracts thereof from fruit, e.g. essential oils

Definitions

• the present invention relates to the preparation of natural flavors from individually quick frozen (IQF) fruits, vegetables and herbs.
• IQF individually quick frozen
• flavors are preferred, which have an authentic flavor profile, ideally equivalent to the fresh, unprocessed prototype in field crops and cuisine. Artificial flavorings are avoided, and food retailers urge to keep products free of labels which indicate food additives or flavors. This trend runs parallel to regulations originating from the European Commission and national authorities. As part of the trend, new categories of flavors, like “from the named fruit” (“FTNF”) and “from the named juice” (“FTNJ”), have appeared, and threshold values have been set for additives or auxiliary materials which originate from the processing method.
• FTNF from the named fruit
• FNJ juice
• European Council Directive 88/344/EES specifies a threshold for methanol backlog in food of 10 mg/kg if methanol has been used as solvent for the purpose of extraction.
• SCC spinning cone column
• Non-patent document 1 makes use of SCC technology:
• Purees were produced by means of a cutting machine based on a rotor stator principle, e.g. a model offered by the company "Urschel”. Flavors produced by SCC from such purees were found to be even more fresh and authentic in character than flavors made from commercial purees or water phases.
• Non-patent document 2 describes the use of film technologies in fruit processing in order to recover high quality fruit aromas from purees and juice.
• Patent document 1 relates to luxury drink flavors, their manufacture, food containing the flavors, and a method for enhancing flavor of food using the flavors.
• the flavors are manufactured by (A) subjecting a slurry of luxury drink materials, e.g. coffee beans, tea leaves, etc., to gas-liq. countercurrent distillation to recover aroma
• Non-patent document 3 describes the Spinning Cone Column as a multi-stage, agitated plate, gas-liquid contacting device with the ability to handle liquids and slurries of milled vegetables or animal substances.
• the advantages of the SCC in relation to other more conventional stripping equipment are described as lying in its very low residence times and reduced pressure drops, which make the SCC more energy efficient and allow recovery of flavors from liquids or solid-in-liquid streams with a minimum of damage and with few or no artifacts.
• Patent document 2 relates to a process for making a flavoring compositions suitable for use in a food product, e.g. a beverage, a desert, or a noodle soup, etc., wherein the process includes preparing an ion exchange solution containing 0.01-3 wt. % of natural gum, and having a solution viscosity of 5-100 mPa-s, mixing 3-15 wt. % of a milled solid material, e.g. tea, coffee bean, dried bonito, having a grain size of 60-mesh pass > 50 %, and 0-5 wt. % of ethanol to the ion exchange solution, and applying the mixed slurry to a spinning cone column (SCC) at 60-100°C inside the column at a strip ratio of 1-10 % and operation pressure of 0.2-100 kPa.
• SCC spinning cone column
• Patent document 3 relates to the manufacture of concentrated citrus aroma, as well as to flavoring compositions and foods, e.g. beverages, (frozen) desserts or baked
• the aroma is manufactured by continuous vacuum concentration of fruit juice to 100 to 150-fold strength (based on the aroma component) and to an alcohol content of 1-7 wt. %, subsequent removal of essential oil by filtration in the presence of filtration aids, and final separation using a spinning cone column at a column temperature of 40-80°C, a strip ratio of 1-10%, and pressure of 0.2-40 kPa.
• the method is said to allow water-soluble low-molecular-weight components (e.g.,
• Non-patent document 1 Riley P. C, Sykes S. J.; Industrial Applications of
• Non-patent document 2 Skaliotis, L; Fruit Processing (2011), 21(5), 182-186.
• Non-patent document 3 Miyazaki, K. M.; Aroma Research (2007), 8(2), 120- 124.
• the present inventors have made it their goal to devise a process for producing natural flavors which have flavor profiles that are as close as possible to those of the natural product raw materials and do not exhibit cooked or processed notes. Furthermore, it was desired to avoid the presence of high levels of methanol in the flavors, as it is impossible to later on separate methanol from the flavor fractions, e.g. by distillation or through reverse osmosis, without causing the loss of important flavor components.
• the present invention comprises the following:
• Item 1 A process for the production of a flavor, comprising the steps of
• Item 2 The process according to item 1 wherein the processing of the thawed fruit, vegetable or herb by means of a rotor/stator type cutting device (step (ii)) is carried out.
• Item 3 The process according to item 1 or item 2 wherein the frozen fruit
• Item 4 The process according to item 3 wherein the individual quick frozen fruit, vegetable or herb is individual quick frozen fruit.
• Item 5 The process according to item 4 wherein the individual quick frozen fruit is individual quick frozen strawberry, blueberry or mango.
• Item 6 The process according to any one of items 1 to 5, which further makes use of a progressive cavity pump for feeding the frozen fruit, vegetable or herb to the scraped surface heat exchanger.
• Item 7 The process according to item 6, wherein the progressive cavity pump is equipped with an integrated heat exchanger.
• Item 8 The process according to any one of items 1 to 7, wherein the process is carried out as a continuous or a batch process.
• Item 9 The process according to item 8, which is carried out as a continuous
• Item 10 The process according to any one of items 1 to 9, wherein the mean
• Item 11 The process according to any one of items 1 to 10, wherein the
• temperature of the heating medium in the scraped surface heat exchanger lies within the range of 30 °C to 70 °C.
• Item 12 Use of a flavor prepared according to the process of any one of items 1 to
• Item 13 An apparatus for carrying out the process of any one of items 1 to 11, comprising a scraped surface heat exchanger, a cutting device and a spinning cone column.
• Item 14 A process for the thawing of frozen fruit, vegetable, or herb, which is
• Item 15 The process according to item 14, which yields a fruit, vegetable or herb slurry.
• Item 16 A process for the production of a puree, which is characterized in that a fruit, vegetable or herb slurry which is produced according to item 15 is further processed by means of a cutting device.
• Item 17 The process according to item 16, wherein the puree has a
• Figure 1 shows the MeOH Content in Strawberry SCC distillates.
• Figure 2 shows the MeOH Content in Blueberry SCC distillates.
• Figure 3 shows the MeOH Content in Mango SCC distillates.
• Scraped surface heat exchangers originally were designed for the processing of whole pieces of fruit, having diameters up to 2.5 cm. Thus, scraped surface heat exchangers have, in the past, been employed for the pasteurization of non-frozen fruits including fast cooling of the resulting pasteurized mass to lower temperatures, which generally lie above freezing.
• TERLET the manufacturer of the TERLOTHERM® brand of scraped surface heat exchanger
• defrosting of IQF fruit or individual pieces of fruit by use of scraped surface heat exchangers has not previously been described.
• previous publications do not provide any information on how the continuous thermal thawing of fruits without thermal damage might be carried out.
• scraped surface heat exchangers While previously known uses of scraped surface heat exchangers include the freezing of highly viscous liquid materials, the thawing of materials or, for that matter, of
• a setup comprising a sequence of a progressive cavity pump with heated pump head, a Terlotherm® scraped surface heat exchanger, a rotor/stator cutting machine, a pneumatic pump, a stirred vessel as a buffer and a SCC was devised.
• the temperature and feed rate of the heat transfer medium heating the scraped surface heat exchanger could be adjusted so as to allow the mean temperature of the material exiting the scraped surface heat exchanger to be above its freezing point (i.e., it is thawed) and the mean temperature of the fruit puree exiting the cutting machine to lie between 30 °C and 0 °C, and preferably between 20 °C and 10 °C.
• the temperature of the heating medium in the scraped surface heat exchanger generally lies within the range of 30 to 70 °C, preferably in the range of 40 to 60 °C.
• the process employing the scraped surface heat exchanger has the advantage of allowing heating water of significantly lower temperature (e.g. 55°C) to be used.
• a heating water temperature of 90°C was required for the process employing conventional heat exchangers, thereby increasing the risk of local thermal damage and flavor degradation as well as the chance of an increase in methanol content due to degradation of pectins.
• the much gentler thawing of the frozen produce which is possible with the process of the present invention thus allows flavor distillates to be produced, which are more authentic than those which can be obtained by previous processes.
• the scraped surface heat exchanger in the process of the present invention is preferably operated at a rotational speed lying in the range of 100 to 150 rpm, with a rotational speed of about 120 rpm being most preferred.
• the new process also precludes methanol by avoiding thermal overheating during thawing.
• the new process allows the preparation of fresh and authentic flavors which have a very low methanol content.
• a progressing cavity pump, produced by Knoll, type MX 30R-60/10 with heated pump head was equipped succinct with a feed hopper 80 cm high. Frozen but free rolling fruit was filled into the hopper to a height of 60 cm. The feed hopper was replenished during fruit processing. The temperature of the frozen fruit, the rotation speed of the screw (scrapers), and the inlet- and outlet temperatures and flow rate of the heating media were as indicated in the specific examples.
• the outlet of the progressive cavity pump was connected via a hose to two double pipe heat exchangers in one row.
• the heat exchangers were made in-house from stainless steel.
• the diameter of the inner pipe was 3.8 cm and the length of each heat exchange surface was 2.0 m.
• the heat exchangers were operated with hot water in counter-current flow as heating media. Afterwards this medium was used to heat the pump head of the progressing cavity pump.
• Temperatures of the heating media were measured at the inlet and outlet of the heat exchanger. The measured temperatures are indicated in the specific examples along with the temperature of the frozen mass and the overall flow rate of hot water.
• the outlet of the heat exchanger was connected to the inlet of a cutting machine by means of a flexible hose.
• a Cutting machine manufactured by "Urschel", type Comitrol 1500, equipped with cutting head 3M-025040U 66866 was used. The discharge from the cutting machine was collected in a 40 I bucket below the outlet of the machine. In some cases the outlet of the cutting machine was blocked by frozen puree after some time (see indication in specific examples). Continuous pumping of the puree by an air operated diaphragm pump was hampered by freezing of the pumps.
• the mass was maintained in the vessel under stirring to allow thawing and dilution, if required. Subsequently, it was processed on the SCC.
• the distillation conditions (Top temperature on distillation column, Offset-temperature, total strip rate, total flow of puree) are indicated in the specific examples.
• the thawing time of the freshly prepared purees was used to investigate the influence of storage time on the release of methanol.
• the corresponding data is listed with the specific examples.
• a progressing cavity pump, produced by Knoll, type MX 30R-60/10 with heated pump head was equipped succinct with a feed hopper 80 cm high. Frozen but free rolling fruit was filled into the hopper to a height of 60 cm. The feed hopper was replenished during fruit processing.
• the temperature of the frozen fruit, the rotation speed of the screw (scrapers), and the inlet- and outlet temperatures and flow rate of the heating media were as indicated in the specific examples.
• the Terlotherm® heat exchanger was operated with hot water in counter current flow as heating media. Afterwards this media was used to heat the pump head of progressing cavity pump. Temperatures of heating media were measured at the inlet and outlet of the Terlotherm.
• the outlet of the scraped surface heat exchanger was connected to the inlet of a cutting machine by means of a flexible hose.
• a Cutting machine manufactured by "Urschel”, type Comitrol 1500, equipped with cutting head 3M-025040U 66866 was used.
• the discharge from the cutting machine was collected by means of a self-constructed, closed outlet funnel and pumped down to a stirred 600 I vessel by means of an air operated diaphragm pump.
• the surface temperature of the outlet funnel is indicated in the specific examples.
• the outlet of the progressing cavity pump was connected to the inlet of the cutting machine via a flexible hose.
• a Cutting machine manufactured by "Urschel”, type Comitrol 1500, equipped with cutting head 3M-025040U 66866 was used.
• the discharge was collected by a self-constructed, closed outlet funnel and pumped down to a stirred 600 I vessel by use of an air operated diaphragm pump.
• Distillation on a spinning cone column (SCC) manufactured by Flavourtech, M1000, model SCC 1000
• the distillation conditions Topic temperature on Distillation column, Offset-temperature, total strip rate, total flow of puree) are indicated in the specific examples.
• the methanol content of the SCC distillates was determined by GC.
• a problem of overlap with other compounds in the methanol retention range, such as ethyl acetate, acetal, or mixed Acetals, can arise.
• a GC x GC/MSD System was used:
• process 1 was employed to process strawberries and blueberries. Processing of IQF Strawberry Senga Sengana from Tru.
• Methanol content of strawberry distillates The methanol content of the distillates was determined by the general procedure described above. Although the puree was kept at temperatures below 0°C the entire time before processing on the SCC, the methanol content was found to have increased 3-fold when delaying the processing by 24 hours and 5-fold when delaying the processing by 34 hours.
• the methanol content of the distillates was determined by the general procedure described above. Although the stored puree was kept at temperatures below 4°C overnight, the methanol content within the distillates doubled in comparison to distillates produced from freshly prepared puree. Table 3 (parameters for processing of IQF-fruit by use of double pipe heat exchanger)
• distillates obtained from frozen fruit exhibit a sensory profile which is very similar to that of distillates which are obtained from fresh fruit, i.e. very authentic and green flavors.
• distillates obtained from commercial purees are less fresh in character and distillates obtained from water phases typically exhibit boiled notes.

Landscapes

• Chemical & Material Sciences (AREA)
• Health & Medical Sciences (AREA)
• Nutrition Science (AREA)
• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Food Science & Technology (AREA)
• Polymers & Plastics (AREA)
• Oil, Petroleum & Natural Gas (AREA)
• Preparation Of Fruits And Vegetables (AREA)
• Seasonings (AREA)
• Fats And Perfumes (AREA)

Priority Applications (1)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

Family

ID=48740981

Family Applications (1)

Country Status (2)

Families Citing this family (6)

Citations (2)

Family Cites Families (8)

• 2014
  • 2014-06-10 EP EP14734931.0A patent/EP3021688A2/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2014-06-10 WO PCT/JP2014/065825 patent/WO2015001943A2/en active Application Filing

Patent Citations (2)

Non-Patent Citations (2)

Also Published As

Similar Documents

Legal Events