FI95399C - Process for making brown bit sugar - Google Patents

Description

x 95399

Method for making dark lump sugar

The invention relates to a process for the production of dark lump sugar using ordinary granulated sugar and sugar syrup as raw materials. According to the method of the invention, the granulated sugar is moistened by a steam / steam-water treatment, after which a syrup is added and mixed, and the resulting mixture is shaped into pieces and dried by conventional techniques used in the manufacture of granulated sugar.

Conventional white lump sugar is made from refined granulated sugar. It consists of pure carbohydrate and does not contain the sugar cane or sugar beet used as a raw material for sugar, as well as the trace elements, minerals, flavors and colors of the sugar beet, as these remain in the molasses during sugar separation. However, many consumers want a product that contains other naturally occurring nutrients and flavors in addition to sugar. As a result, a number of dark lump sugars have been introduced into the European market. They are brown in color; therefore, they also correspond in appearance to the consumer's perception of the natural product.

Conventional white lump sugars are commercially prepared into bars by compression, compression molding and vibration (see Chen, J.C.P., Meade-Chen Cane Sugar Handbook, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, 1985, pp. 628-629). Methods of making lump sugar are usually named after the developers of the equipment or methods; the most common methods are the Höweler, Vibro and Elba methods. In the former, the granulated sugar is moistened with water or steam-water treatment and compressed into molds into bars which are dried and chopped. In the Vib-ro method, the moistened sugar is filled by vibration into molds on a flat surface, each of which forms a single piece of sugar, the sugar 35 exceeding the edges of the mold is removed and the pieces are removed by vibration from the molds, dried and cooled. In the Elba method, the crystal sugar is moistened and each piece of sugar is pressed in its own mold, after which the pieces are dried and cooled.

The quality of the sugar cubes (hardness, dissolution rate) 5 can be controlled by the amount of granulated sugar used as raw material, the amount of wetting and the process parameters (wetting time and temperature, steam to water ratio in the wetting phase, compression force).

Commercial dark lump sugars are typically made from raw cane sugar by compression molding. The disadvantage in this case is that the product is coarse in structure, because the fine-grained sugar causes adhesion problems in the raw sugar in the manufacturing process due to the molasses layer surrounding the sugar crystals. The taste of the product is also not controllable, but is determined by the raw material used. Raw beet sugar is therefore not at all suitable for the production of such lump sugar, as beet molasses contains very unpleasant substances. In addition, the products available so far are unsatisfactory in appearance: their color is uneven and their surface is rough. In addition, a very significant drawback is that the pieces of raw sugar can only be made by compression methods (Howeler and Elba) but not by the Vibro method, because the pieces thus obtained do not remain together.

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a dark lump sugar which is uniform and smooth in structure and appearance, which has an easily adjustable taste, color and trace element content and which can also be made from beet sugar. It is a further object of the invention to provide a dark lump sugar which can also be produced with a Vibro apparatus, resulting in small, regularly shaped and rapidly dissolving sugar lumps.

In preliminary experiments to achieve the above objectives, batches of dark lump sugar were prepared from a mixture of granulated sugar and molasses from sugar separation using a Vibro apparatus. The moisture content of the mixture to be shaped into pieces was varied by varying the amount of molasses used. The products obtained met the requirements for taste, color and appearance of a dark piece-5 spool. However, they were too sensitive to moisture: when the relative humidity exceeded about 45%, the pieces bound moisture from the air and softened.

Further studies surprisingly found that when the granulated sugar was moistened with a steam-water mixture before the addition of molasses, a product was obtained which remained hard under storage conditions at a relative humidity of up to about 60%.

Thus, the invention relates to a process for the preparation of dark lump sugar, which process is characterized in that the granulated sugar is treated with steam or a steam-water mixture while stirring, the syrup containing colorants, flavors and trace elements is mixed with the wet sugar and the mixture is .

The fact that wetting the granulated sugar before adding the syrup significantly improves the product's resistance to moisture is assumed - without adhering to this theory - due to the fact that some of the 25 sugar dissolves during the wetting phase and evaporates during drying. If only granulated sugar and molasses are used in the preparation, neither sugar nor crystallization occurs, because molasses is a supersaturated solution of sugar. In this case, in a finished piece of sugar: [molasses fills the spaces between the sugar crystals and, due to its hygroscopicity, causes the piece to soften when stored in a moist state.

According to the method of the invention, the sugar-35 syrup mixture is shaped into pieces, preferably by a vibrating method. In this case, the sugar-syrup mixture is vibrated into molds in a Vibro apparatus. The pieces removed by vibrating the molds go into the drying tunnel. Immediately thereafter, they are packaged and the product dries to a final hardness of 5 during storage.

Factors affecting the quality and manufacturing technology of the product include the quality of the granulated sugar and syrup used as raw materials, the mixing temperature, the temperature and moisture content of the steam-water mixture and the mixing time.

As the granulated sugar in the preparation of the dark lump sugar according to the invention, crystalline sugars of varying sucrose content and grain size can be used, e.g. crystalline sugar having an average grain size of 0.30 to 0.70 mm, preferably 0.36 to 0.40 mm, and a coefficient of variation of 25 to 45%. .

15 Syrups can be sugar syrups, for example cane-based molasses suitable for food use. Small amounts of starch syrup can also be added to sugar syrup.

The temperature and humidity of the sugar are adjusted to suit the steam treatment or steam-water treatment of the granulated sugar. A suitable temperature is 40 to 60 ° C, most preferably 50 to 55 ° C, and the amount of steam or steam-water mixture used is such that the moisture content of the sugar-syrup mixture is about 2-3.5% by weight, preferably 2.7 to 3.0% by weight. -%.

The syrup is heated to approximately the same temperature as the moist sugar and is added to the sugar in an amount of 2 to 10% by weight, preferably about 5% by weight of the total weight of the mixture.

The mixture is compressed into rods (Höweler) or pieces 30 (Elba) or formed by vibration (Vibro) into pellets and dried by heating at a temperature of about 100 to 150 ° C to a moisture content of 0.3 to 2.0% by weight. Final moisture stabilization occurs during storage.

The invention is further illustrated by the following example of a wedge which is not intended to limit the scope of the invention.

5,95399

Example 150 kg of granulated sugar with a mean grain size of 0.36-0.40 mm, a coefficient of variation of 27-33%, was metered into the mixer. 2-3 kg of water were then added with stirring in the form of a steam-ve-5 mixture. 8 kg of cane sugar molasses with the following characteristics were mixed with the moist sugar:

Dry matter content 78.0 - 81.0%

Conductivity ash 7 - 11% 10 Total sugar content 68 - 75%

Invert sugar content 17 - 23% Color, ICUMSA 70000 - 150000.

The mixture was stirred for 7 min. at a temperature of 50 to 56 ° C. The mixture was then formed into 15 pieces in a Vibro apparatus, dried at 110-140 ° C to a moisture content of 1.0-1.7% and immediately packaged.

The resulting pieces of dark sugar hardened to their final hardness during storage. They can withstand storage at less than 60% relative humidity without softening. The product was also fine-grained and smooth in structure and excellent in taste and appearance.

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Claims (7)

A method for producing dark lump sugar, characterized in that the granulated sugar is treated with steam or a steam-water mixture while stirring, a syrup containing colors, flavors and trace elements is mixed with the moist sugar and the mixture is formed into lumps by a technique known per se. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the mixture is formed into pieces by a vibration method with a Vibro apparatus. Process according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that the steam or steam-water mixture is used in such an amount that the moisture content of the sugar-syrup mixture 15 is about 2 to 3.5% by weight, preferably 2.7 to 3.0% by weight. . Method according to one of Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that the average grain size of the granulated sugar is 0.30 to 0.70 mm, preferably 0.36 to 0.40 mm, and the coefficient of variation is 25 to 45%. Process according to one of Claims 1 to 4, characterized in that the syrup is molasses suitable for food use. Process according to one of Claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the syrup is cane sugar-based molasses. 6,95399 Process according to one of Claims 1 to 6, characterized in that the granulated sugar is beet sugar. «· Il i - Sft.t merged 1. i I SI 7 95399