GB1591102A

GB1591102A - Culinary fat pieces

Info

Publication number: GB1591102A
Application number: GB45952/76A
Authority: GB
Original assignee: Unilever PLC
Current assignee: Unilever PLC
Priority date: 1976-11-04
Filing date: 1976-11-04
Publication date: 1981-06-17
Also published as: CA1091084A; IE45828B1; IT1093032B; BE860379A; FR2369799B1; DE2749239A1; DK489577A; AU516035B2; IE45828L; CH630782A5; ZA776553B; AU3021777A; NL7711975A; JPS5359051A; FR2369799A1

Abstract

For packaging and division for use at a later point in time, the pieces of solid cooking fat are to be shaped into non-surface-coated spheroids or cylinders of diameters of between 10 and 60 mm and, in the case of cylindrical shapes, lengths of 20 to 150 mm. These shapes are packaged in the form of pieces of solid fat. The above-mentioned fat should have such a composition that its melting point (as determined by the capillary method) is at least 32 DEG C and its dilatation values are between 600 and 2000 at 20 DEG C, between 200 and 500 at 30 DEG and below 500 at 35 DEG C.

Description

(54) CULINARY FAT PIECES (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 per formed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement: This invention relates to fats, more especially to bakery fats which are normally plastic in consistency.

In the preparation of baked goods the fats used are often plastic in consistency at ambient temperatures, that is up to about 250C. Ac cording to use, these fats may consist of mixed fat components from one or more sources of vegetable or animal fats, or emulsions of fat and water such as margarines. Special fat formulations are devised for such purposes as the preparation of puff pastry, cakes and bread, but in general a plastic consistency is required at temperatures up to about 25"C at which the pastry or other mix is worked in the bakery before being baked.

Solid fats for such purposes are commonly supplied to the cook in the form of slabs or blocks which for use must be cut into smaller pieces to follow the recipe accurately and pro duce a pastry or other mix in which the fat is uniformly distributed. If the fat is supplied in pre-cut form, provision has had to be made in the past to prevent the pieces sticking in the package and thus losing their identity.

According to our British Patent 1,170,081, plastic cooking fat is supplied in the form of rods provided with a coating of particles of hard fat and are packed into a container. Ac cording to our British Patent 1,170,082, cook ing fat is provided in the form of strands having an edible non-self-adhesive coating, while in our British Patent 1,238,336, pre-cut pieces of rods of cooking fat are coated with a substan tially coherent homogeneous layer of a fatty coating material which is sufficiently softer or harder than the cooking fat for the pieces to be stored in contact with each other without stick ing inseparably together.

We have now found that plastic cooking fat having a suitable consistency range can be packed in the form of cylindrical or spherical pieces which without special surface treatment will nevertheless not stick inseparably together providing that the dimensions of the pieces are between prescribed limits.

According to the present invention uncoated cooking fat pieces suitable for separably packing together are spheroidal or cylindrical as hereinbefore defined, with a diameter from 10 to 60 mm and length for cylindrical pieces from 20 to 150 mm and comprise a fat composition having a slip melting point of at least 320C and a dilatation at 200C from 600 to 2000, at 30"C from 200 to 500 and at 350C up to 500.

The composition of the fat pieces according to the invention is homogeneous across the diameter, in contrast to the pieces already described elsewhere, in which a coating layer, either coherent with the bulk of the fat 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 which they are loose, at ambient temperatures, i.e. up to 250C they are readily prized apart without losing their identity and usually without breakage, since there is normally only line contact in the case of cylindrical pieces and point contact for 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 preferably made by extrusion.

Where as is customary the fat or margarine composition for the fat pieces is prepared in a scraped surface heat exchanger (Votator A unit) in which the composition is crystallised by chilling followed by passage through resting tubes (B units), the fat pieces may be extruded through an orifice plate located in the outlet of the B unit, the extruded pieces being cut off as required by a transverse knife or wire which may be heated. Spheroidal pieces may be cast. "Votator" is a Registered Trade Mark.

The cylindrical fat pieces may be of uniform or variable diameter, providing that the minimum diameter requirement is observed and may be tapered along their length and also exhibit a variable sectional diameter with the same proviso, providing a dumb-bell, trefoil or other polyfoliated lobate section, instead of the circular cross-section of a regular cylinder.

Similarly spheroidal fat pieces may be oblate or prolate spheroids.

In addition to the required minimum slip melting point and dilatation at 200C, preferably the fat pieces exhibit the following dilatations: D20 600 to 2000, D30 200 to 500 and D3s 0 to 500. The fat composition may comprise animal, vegetable or marine fats which may be hardened, fractionated or interestified as required. Animal fats are preferred and include lard and beef or mutton tallow, and vegetable fats, palm, palm stearine or soyabean oil. Permitted emulsifiers and other additives may be present. In a particular example beef tallow was blended with approximately four times its weight of lard, half of which was previously hydrogenated to a slip melting point of 460C, and 0.5% of monodiglyceride emulsifier prepared from soyabean oil fatty acids. After working in a Votator unit assembly consisting of two A units in series with an exit temperature of 12"C for four B units in series/parallel equipped with two texturiser units in series and providing an extrusion temperature of 20 to 2 10C through orifices 30 mm diameter, the product was cut into cylindrical blocks 30 mm diameter and 50 to 70 mm long, having a slip melting point of 43.5"C and a dilatation at 200C of 1200. In this specification dilatation values refer to the isothermal expansion of a fat in mm3 at a particular temperature determined by the method described in British Patent Specification No. 827 172, referring to 25 gms of fat.

WHAT WE CLAIM IS: 1. Uncoated cooking fat pieces suitable for separably packing together, the fat pieces being spheroidal or cylindrical as hereinbefore defined, with a diameter from 10 to 60 mm and length for cylindrical pieces from 20 to 150 mm and comprising a fat composition having a slip melting point of at least 320C and a dilatation at 20"C from 600 to 2000, at 300C from 200 to 500 and at 350C up to 500.

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

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

4. Fat pieces according to any of the preceding claims in which the fat composition includes an emulsifier.

5. Fat pieces according to any of the preceding claims in which the fat composition consists of animal fat.

6. Fat pieces according to claim 5 comprising lard and/or hydrogenated lard.

7. Uncoated cooking fat pieces substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the above example.

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

Claims

**WARNING** start of CLMS field may overlap end of DESC **. circular cross-section of a regular cylinder. Similarly spheroidal fat pieces may be oblate or prolate spheroids. In addition to the required minimum slip melting point and dilatation at 200C, preferably the fat pieces exhibit the following dilatations: D20 600 to 2000, D30 200 to 500 and D3s 0 to 500. The fat composition may comprise animal, vegetable or marine fats which may be hardened, fractionated or interestified as required. Animal fats are preferred and include lard and beef or mutton tallow, and vegetable fats, palm, palm stearine or soyabean oil. Permitted emulsifiers and other additives may be present. In a particular example beef tallow was blended with approximately four times its weight of lard, half of which was previously hydrogenated to a slip melting point of 460C, and 0.5% of monodiglyceride emulsifier prepared from soyabean oil fatty acids. After working in a Votator unit assembly consisting of two A units in series with an exit temperature of 12"C for four B units in series/parallel equipped with two texturiser units in series and providing an extrusion temperature of 20 to 2 10C through orifices 30 mm diameter, the product was cut into cylindrical blocks 30 mm diameter and 50 to 70 mm long, having a slip melting point of 43.5"C and a dilatation at 200C of 1200. In this specification dilatation values refer to the isothermal expansion of a fat in mm3 at a particular temperature determined by the method described in British Patent Specification No. 827 172, referring to 25 gms of fat. WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. Uncoated cooking fat pieces suitable for separably packing together, the fat pieces being spheroidal or cylindrical as hereinbefore defined, with a diameter from 10 to 60 mm and length for cylindrical pieces from 20 to 150 mm and comprising a fat composition having a slip melting point of at least 320C and a dilatation at 20"C from 600 to 2000, at 300C from 200 to 500 and at 350C up to 500.

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

6. Fat pieces according to claim 5 comprising lard and/or hydrogenated lard.