GB1568834A - Substitute cream concentrates - Google Patents

Description

(54) SUBSTITUTE CREAM CONCENTRATES (71) We, UNILEVER LIMITED, a Company organised under the laws of Great Britain, of Unilever House, Blackfriars, London, E.C.4., England, do hereby declare the invention, for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- This invention relates to substitute cream compositions. More particularly this invention is concerned with substitute cream concentrates and with the selection of the emulsifiers in the fat phase in such concentrates.

The term "cream" used in this specification refers to non-dairy materials intended as substitutes for dairy cream.

Such creams, cream concentrates and whipped creams comprise significant proportions of vegetable oils or fats in the oil phase of the oil-in-water emulsion which forms the cream material.

Hitherto, spray-dried compositions have been prepared which can be considered as concentrates in that they can be dispersed in water to form a cream-like oil-in-water emulsion. These materials involve the use of expensive spray-drying equipment, but do have the benefit of microbiological stability when stored in the dried state.

Various water-containing concentrates have also been proposed and these do involve problems of stability against microbiological deterioration, but are much cheaper to make and, frequently, more readily dispersible. These water-containin; concentrates normally comprise an oi phase containing a non-dairy fat such as hardened groundnut oil, a monoglyceride and other emulsion stabilizing additives, together with flavourings and colours, and an aqueous phase comprising various sugars and thickening agents and frequently, mould inhibitors and other stabilizers against oxidation and biological growth.

The inclusion of certain of these stabilizers and mould inhibitors can cause difficulties in respect of local legislation concerning food additives.

The present invention is particularly concerned with the preparation of a watercontaining cream concentrate having particularly desirable properties both in the concentrate form and in the preparation of a whipped cream product from the concentrate, which can readily be reconstituted by addition of further water to the concentrate to yield a cream having desirable properties of firmness and structure, lack of particulate contaminants formed from undispersed concentrate which can be referred to as residual bits and an adequate specific volume in the range 2-3.5 or more.

Accordingly, the present invention provides an oil-in-water emulsion cream concentrate comprising, in the oil phase, 0.06% to O.35'/o of an alkylene glycol monoester of a C12-C22 fatty acid and 0.17 to 1.00/, of Normal Lecithin expressed as a percentage by weight of the total cream concentrate and a secondary emulsifier.

A preferred alkylene glycol monoester is a distilled propylene glycol monostearate the acids in the ester comprising essentially approximately (by weight) 60% of C,8 and 30% of C, acids.

The "normal" lecithin should be of at least food grade quality and a lecithin derived from soyabean oil and sold under the trade name "Bolec K" is satisfactory.

"Bolec" is a Registered Trade Mark.

The oil phase should also contain secondary emulsifiers already used in synthetic cream, such as monoglycerides, sucrose esters or polyglycerol esters. The selection of these orthodox emulsifiers will, in the presence of the essential proportions of alkylene glycol monoester and lecithin, determine the detailed properties of the final whipped cream. For example, the addition of unsaturated monoglycerides or polyglycerol esters will give a firmer whipped cream with a lower specific volume, whereas the addition of sucrose esters or saturated monoglycerides or polyglycerol esters will give a whipped cream which has higher specific volume, but is less firm. The variations of properties exhibited with these secondary emulsifiers are already well known in the manufacture of synthetic creams.

The fats suitable for use in the oil phase of the cream concentrate are those having a slip point in the range 3370C, and of these hardened groundnut oil is a good example. However, it will be appreciated that any suitable edible fat, having appropriate melting characteristics in the mouth, can be used in this invention.

Obviously various flavourings and colourings can be incorporated into the oil phase of the concentrate.

The aqueous phase of the concentrate comprises various sugars, milk powders, thickening agents and water. The aqueous phase will generally contain from about 40 to 68% by weight of sugars which can include sucrose, dextrose monohydrate, lactose and like materials. Thickening agents can also be incorporated to provide stability and improved whipping properties to the final cream: sodium carboxymethylcellulose and natural gums can also be incorporated in these concentrates.

One process for preparing the cream concentrate provided by this invention comprises preparing a water phase by dry blending the solid components of that phase, dissolving in water and heating to approximately 750 C with continuous stirring. The oil phase is prepared by melting the fat, adding the other solid, lipid components and stirring, heating to 750C and then blending the oil phase into the heated aqueous phase with vigorous stirring to form the uniform oil-in-water emulsion.

This emulsion is then homogenised through a pre-heated homogeniser at about 70"C and about 700 Ibs per square inch (50 Kg/m2) pressure and packed into containers.

The containers should be stored overnight at 5"C and then held at ambient temperature for two days before use. The following examples set out formulations of cream concentrates according to this invention, and also comparative formulations of cream concentrates of the same general type as those according to the invention but found to be lacking in one or more of the desirable properties found in the compositions according to the invention.

Reconstitution With Water Normally the cream concentrate is reconstituted by combining it with between 10% and 50% water depending on the type of final whipped product required. The addition of a low level of water will give a dense cream suitable for fillings, and the addition of high levels of water will give a light cream suitable for toppings.

It has been found that mixing for two minutes on slow speed followed by whipping for five minutes on high speed will produce a whipped cream of maximum volume for the amount of water added. However, prolonging the whipping does not seriously affect the quality of the final whipped cream.

The following experimental formulations (parts are by weight of food grade purity materials) have been selected to demonstrate the limiting proportions of alkylene glycol monoester and lecithin within which a commercially-acceptable final whipped cream can be prepared.

The process used to make the cream concentrate and to reconstitute the final cream are those described above. In each case two parts by weight of cream concentrate were reconstituted with one part by weight of water.

EXAMPLE I parts Hardened Palm Kernel Oil slip point 33/34"C 40 Propylene glycol monostearate (90% monoester) 0.13 Normal Lecithin (Bolec K) 1.0 Saturated, distilled (90%) hydrogenated tallow monoglyceride 1.0 Unsaturated distilled (90%) lard monoglyceride 0.87 Sucrose 12 Dextrose monohydrate 8.6 Lactose 6 Spray-dried skimmed milk powder 2 Trisodium citrate 0.03 Sodium carboxymethylcellulose (1500 viscosity grade) 0.3 Water 27.6 This formulation gave a satisfactory concentrate, which on reconstitution produced a cream with only a few residual bits and having medium firmness and structure, with a specific volume of 2.95.

When the lecithin level was reduced to 0.17 parts a satisfactory concentrate was also produced. In this case the reconstituted cream had no residual bits and was of medium strength structure and body, having a specific volume of 3.14.

However, when the lecithin level was significantly increased to 1.5 parts and decreased to 0.07 parts, reconstituted creams that were produced had weak structures and an absence of body. Also many residual bits were found in the formulation with the increased level of lecithin.

EXAMPLE II parts Hardened Palm Kernel Oil slip point at 33/340C 40 Propylene glycol monostearate (90% monoester) 0.35 Normal Lecithin 0.33 Polyglycerol stearate 1.0 Polyglycerol oleate 0.87 Sucrose 13 Dextrose monohydrate 8.6 Lactose 6 Spray-dried skimmed milk powder 2 Trisodium citrate 0.03 Sodium carboxymethylcellulose (1500 viscosity grade) 0.3 Water 27.6 This formulation gave a satisfactory concentrate, which on reconstitution produced a cream with a few residual bits, having medium firmness and structure and with a specific volume of 2.98. When the propylene glycol monostearate level was reduced to 0.06 parts a satisfactory concentrate was also produced. In this case the reconstituted cream prepared had no residual bits, was of medium strength structure and body and had a specific volume of 2.86.

However, when the propylene glycol monoester level was significantly increased to 0.67 parts and reduced to 0.03 parts, reconstituted creams produced had weak structures and an absence of body. Also many residual bits were found in the formulation with the increased level of propylene glycol monostearate.

EXAMPLE III parts Hardened Palm Kernel Oil slip point 33/340C 40 Propylene glycol monostearate (90% monoester) 0.27 Normal Lecithin 0.33 Saturated distilled (90%) hydrogenated tallow monoglyceride 2.2 Sucrose 12 Dextrose monohydrate 8.6 Lactose 6 Spray-dried skimmed milk powder 2 Trisodium citrate 0.03 Sodium carboxymethylcellulose (1500 viscosity grade) 0.3 Water 27.6 The above formulation is degraded to demonstrate the role played by the second group of emulsifiers in the system. The reconstituted cream produced from the above example had a slightly weak structure but gave a high specific volume of 3.4. A similar formulation was tried where the saturated distilled monoglyceride was replaced at the same level by unsaturated distilled monoglyceride, the reconstituted cream had a very firm structure and a specific volume of 2.24.

Thus, it will be understood from this example that the characteristics of the reconstituted cream can be modified to suit a desired end use by selecting a correct balance of the secondary emulsifiers in the composition.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. An oil-in-water emulsion cream concentrate comprising, in the oil phase, 0.06% to 0.35% of an alkylene glycol monoester of a C12-C22 fatty acid and 0.17% to 1.0% of Normal Lecithin expressed as a percentage by weight of the total cream concentrate and a secondary emulsifier.

2. A cream concentrate as claimed in Claim 1 in which the alkylene glycol monoester is a distilled propylene glycol monostearate the acids in the ester comprising essentially by weight of 60% of C,8 and 30% of C, acids.

3. A cream concentrate as claimed in Claim 1, substantially as described herein with reference to the Examples.

**WARNING** end of DESC field may overlap start of CLMS **.

Claims (3)

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. EXAMPLE II parts Hardened Palm Kernel Oil slip point at 33/340C 40 Propylene glycol monostearate (90% monoester) 0.35 Normal Lecithin 0.33 Polyglycerol stearate 1.0 Polyglycerol oleate 0.87 Sucrose 13 Dextrose monohydrate 8.6 Lactose 6 Spray-dried skimmed milk powder 2 Trisodium citrate 0.03 Sodium carboxymethylcellulose (1500 viscosity grade) 0.3 Water 27.6 This formulation gave a satisfactory concentrate, which on reconstitution produced a cream with a few residual bits, having medium firmness and structure and with a specific volume of 2.98. When the propylene glycol monostearate level was reduced to 0.06 parts a satisfactory concentrate was also produced. In this case the reconstituted cream prepared had no residual bits, was of medium strength structure and body and had a specific volume of 2.86. However, when the propylene glycol monoester level was significantly increased to 0.67 parts and reduced to 0.03 parts, reconstituted creams produced had weak structures and an absence of body. Also many residual bits were found in the formulation with the increased level of propylene glycol monostearate. EXAMPLE III parts Hardened Palm Kernel Oil slip point 33/340C 40 Propylene glycol monostearate (90% monoester) 0.27 Normal Lecithin 0.33 Saturated distilled (90%) hydrogenated tallow monoglyceride 2.2 Sucrose 12 Dextrose monohydrate 8.6 Lactose 6 Spray-dried skimmed milk powder 2 Trisodium citrate 0.03 Sodium carboxymethylcellulose (1500 viscosity grade) 0.3 Water 27.6 The above formulation is degraded to demonstrate the role played by the second group of emulsifiers in the system. The reconstituted cream produced from the above example had a slightly weak structure but gave a high specific volume of 3.4. A similar formulation was tried where the saturated distilled monoglyceride was replaced at the same level by unsaturated distilled monoglyceride, the reconstituted cream had a very firm structure and a specific volume of 2.24. Thus, it will be understood from this example that the characteristics of the reconstituted cream can be modified to suit a desired end use by selecting a correct balance of the secondary emulsifiers in the composition. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. An oil-in-water emulsion cream concentrate comprising, in the oil phase, 0.06% to 0.35% of an alkylene glycol monoester of a C12-C22 fatty acid and 0.17% to 1.0% of Normal Lecithin expressed as a percentage by weight of the total cream concentrate and a secondary emulsifier.

2. A cream concentrate as claimed in Claim 1 in which the alkylene glycol monoester is a distilled propylene glycol monostearate the acids in the ester comprising essentially by weight of 60% of C,8 and 30% of C, acids.

3. A cream concentrate as claimed in Claim 1, substantially as described herein with reference to the Examples.