GB2416980A

GB2416980A - Snackfood comprising morsels of cooked pastry and having low moisture content

Info

Publication number: GB2416980A
Application number: GB0418055A
Authority: GB
Inventors: David William Openshaw
Original assignee: FRESHERS FOODS Ltd
Current assignee: FRESHERS FOODS Ltd
Priority date: 2004-08-13
Filing date: 2004-08-13
Publication date: 2006-02-15
Anticipated expiration: 2024-08-13
Also published as: GB2416980B; GB0418055D0

Abstract

A snack food comprises morsels of cooked (e.g. deep fried) spring roll pastry having a moisture content of less than 7 % by weight. The morsels may be in the shape of a "samosa", triangular, square, rectangular, circular or oval. In one embodiment the morsels comprise a single layer of the cooked spring roll pastry and, in another, a plurality of layers. The snack food may incorporate a filling, and/or may be provided with a flavouring and/or flavoured coating. Also provided is a method of producing a snack food, comprising the following steps; preparing a batter 5 by mixing e.g. wheat flour and water, feeding the batter 5 to a heated surface to form a pastry sheet 3, cutting the pastry sheet into morsels and then cooking the morsels. Preferably the morsels are cooked in a deep fat fryer 9.

Description

24 1 6980

SNACKFOOD

The present invention relates to a snackfood, i.e. a food product that is intended to be eaten as a snack rather than as a substitute for a main meal.

Snackfoods are extremely popular and many different types are manufactured and sold, generally (but not exclusively) sealed in a bag made of a plastics film or foil.

Frequently such snackfoods are deep-fried products (e.g. potato crisps and corn-based snacks) which by virtue of this frying operation have a moisture content of less than 7% by weight. This low moisture content provides the deep-fried snackfood with a relatively long shelf life. Such deep-fried snackfood products may incorporate a flavouring but it is generally the case that the food substrate used for the snackfood only really lends itself to a savoury flavouring. Thus for example, crisps and corn- based snacks have underlying potato and corn tastes respectively which "clash" with sweet flavourings.

A food product that has become increasingly popular over recent years is the "spring roll" which is a deep-fried product incorporating a meat and/or vegetable filling in a wrapping of the spring roll pastry. Such spring rolls have a relatively high moisture content (as provided by the filling) and do not have a long shelf life (at least not without freezing).

Spring roll pastry is produced from a batter made from a wheat flour (usually having a protein content of 6 to 9%) and water (usually together with minor amounts of salt), the flour and water generally being used in approximately equal amounts by weight. The batter is formed with high shear mixing so that gluten does not form a structured product but does provide elasticity. The pastry itself is generally produced by applying the batter as a layer of the required thickness to a heated surface (e.g. 165-1 85 C) so as to produce a moisture loss of about 80% and produce the pastry.

According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided a snackfood comprising morsels of cooked spring roll pastry, said morsels having a moisture content of less than 7% by weight.

According to a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of producing a snackfood comprising preparing spring roll pastry into the form of snackfood morsel precursors and cooking said precursors to produce snackfood morsels having a moisture content of less than 7% by weight.

Preferably the cooking operation is effected by deep-frying. It is however also possible to use shallow-frying. A further possibility is a dry-cooking method, such as microwaving, baking or grilling.

We have found that a snackfood comprised of cooked (preferably deep-fried) morsels of spring roll pastry having a moisture content of less than 7% by weight has a number of advantages. In particular, the snackfood product is light and crispy.

Additionally the spring roll pastry is bland and as such it may be flavoured without there being a "clash" between the taste of the spring roll pastry and that of the flavourings. Thus, for example, the flavouring may be savoury but more significantly can be a sweet flavouring. This is thus a considerable advantage compared to the flavouring of potato crisps and corn snacks which (as described above) can only take a savoury flavouring without there being a clash of tastes.

The flavouring may for example be provided by a powdered flavouring and/or a flavoured coating.

Snackfood morsels in accordance with the invention may, for example, be triangular, square, rectangular, circular, oval or any other desired geometric configuration. The morsels may have a maximum dimension of 0.5 to 1 Ocm (e.g. side length or diameter depending on geometric shape), more preferably 4-6cm. Generally the thickness of the morsels will not be more than 2cm, and will preferably be 0.5cm to lcm.

The snackfood morsels may comprise a single layer of the deep-fried spring roll pastry. However, more preferably, each morsel comprises two or more layers which are sealed together around their edges prior to deep- frying of the product. In this case, the air space between the two inner layers expands during cooking (e.g. deep-frying) so that, whilst the side edges remain sealed together, the middle body of the product becomes of increased depth due to the expansion of air (in the space between the two inner layers) during the cooking operation. On cooling, the cooked snackfood product remains of increased depth in its middle-body portion due to the fact that the pastry has now become crisp thus preventing the collapse of the body back into the air space between the layers.

A two or more layer product of the type described in the previous paragraph may, for example, be triangular so as to simulate the appearance of a samosa. The triangles may have a side length of 0.5-lOcm, more preferably 4-6cm. Generally the thickness of the morsels will not be more than 2cm, and will preferably be 0.5cm to lcm. For the purposes of appearance, the triangles may be isosceles or equilateral.

A two or more layer product as described above may optionally incorporate a filling (see below).

The deep-fried snackfood morsels of the invention have a moisture content of less than 7% by weight, including any moisture present in a filling or flavouring of the product. This relatively low moisture content (i.e. below 7% by weight) ensures that the snackfood has a long shelf life. More preferably, the moisture content is less than 6% and more preferably less than 5% by weight. Ideally the moisture content is less than 4% and most preferably below 2.5% by weight.

The spring roll pastry used for producing the snack food of the invention may for example have a thickness of 200,um to 3000,um, more typically 700, um to 900m, e.g. about 800,um. The desired thickness may, if necessary, be achieved by use of two or more layers of pastry.

As indicated above, the morsels may be flavoured. Usually the flavouring is powdered but could be applied as an oil slurry. If the flavouring is to be applied prior to the deep-frying operation then a heat-stable flavouring will be required. If the snackfood comprises morsels formed of two or more layers of spring roll pastry (sealed around their edges) then the flavouring may be provided in the interior of the (uncooked) snackfood morsel precursors. Thus, for example, the morsel precursors may be formed from two layers of spring roll pastry with the flavouring being applied to a surface of one or both of the two layers which forms an interior surface of the morsel precursor. Alternatively or additionally flavouring may be provided on the outside of the morsel precursor formed of two layers of the spring roll pastry.

For a two or more layer product, the interior may contain a filling as an alternative (or supplement) to any flavourings. The fillings (which need not be heat stable) may for example be chocolate, jam, toffee, "oily" cheese, marshmallow, peanut butter, sherbert or fondant.

The pastry can be produced from a batter obtained by mixing a wheat flour (or predominately wheat flour) (preferably having a protein content of 69%) with water and preferably a small amount of salt. The batter may comprise 40% to 60% by weight of water and correspondingly 60% to 40% by weight of the flour. Preferably the water and flour are used in approximately equal amounts.

The batter is formed with high shear mixing so that gluten does not form a structured product but does provide elasticity.

Typically the salt will be dissolved in a proportion (e.g. three quarters) of the water and then the flour added initially with low speed mixing. High shear mixing is then effected, e.g. for 40 minutes for a batter produced (at this stage) from lOkg flour and 7.5kg water. Low speed mixing may then be resumed for addition of the remainder of the water.

Generally best results will be achieved if the batter is allowed to rest (e.g. for twenty minutes) before use.

The spring roll pastry may be formed in situ as part of the overall manufacturing process for the snackfood product. Thus, for example, the batter (from which the pastry is produced) may be applied to a heated surface to produce the pasty which is then fed from the heated surface into the process for forming the snackfood morsel precursors. The heated surface may, for example, be a heated drum or roller.

The spring roll pastry may be produced in the manner for semi-automatic "spring roll" and "samosa" production lines, e.g. available under the name ANKO (RTM).

If the snackfood morsels are to comprise only a single layer of the spring roll pastry then the pastry may simply be fed to a "stamping" or cutting station where the desired shapes for the (single layer) morsels are stamped or cut out of the pastry sheet (optionally with the prior addition of a flavouring to the pastry sheet).

If the morsels are to comprise two or more layers of pastry (sealed together around their edges) then there are a number of possibilities for manufacture. Firstly, two or more separate layers of pastry may be placed together in face-to-face relationship (possibly with the prior addition/inclusion of flavourings and/or fillings) and the morsels of the required shape then stamped out of this "multi layer" structure, said morsels being sealed around their edges. This may be a batch operation or a continuous process in which two or more sheets of the pastry are run together in face- to-face relationship. Secondly, a single sheet of spring roll pastry may be folded into two (with the possible prior addition/inclusion of a flavouring and/or filling) and the required shapes (with sealed edges) stamped out. This may be a continuous operation whereby spring roll pastry is continuously produced and fed as a running length which is then folded in half with the fold line being parallel to the running direction of the pastry.

Any filling incorporated in (multi layer) precursor morsels should have a low moisture content, ideally less than 10%.

Once the precursor morsels have been formed, they are then subjected to a cooking operation, in a manner entirely conventional for preparation of snackfoods (e.g. deep frying in vegetable oil). This operation is effected so that the cooked morsels have a maximum moisture content of 7% by weight (including moisture present in any filling present in the cooked morsels. Preferably the cooked (e.g. deep- fried) morsels have a maximum moisture content of less than 6% and more preferably less than 5% by weight. Ideally the moisture content of the cooked (e.g. deep-fried) morsels is less than 4% and ideally will be below 2.5%.

Once the deep-fried morsels have been drained of excess cooking oil then seasoned and allowed to cool they may then be packaged as desired.

Typically the snackfood will be packaged in a sealed bag formed of a plastics foil or film. Generally such a bag will contain a plurality of morsels, but if the morsels are of relatively large size then only one such morsel may be contained in the bag.

The invention will be further described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawing which schematically illustrates production of a snackfood in accordance with the invention.

The drawing illustrates an arrangement 1 for producing generally triangular snackfood morsels 2 from spring roll pastry 3 produced in situ as part of the manufacturing process.

More particularly, at its upstream end, the illustrated arrangement 1 incorporates a hopper 4 containing a batter 5 for producing the spring roll pastry 3.

This batter 5 is fed on to a heated rotating drum 6 so as to form the pastry 3 which is fed onto the upper run of an endless conveyer 7.

The sheet of spring roll pastry 3 is folded longitudinally into two layers as shown (by an arrangement not depicted in the drawing) so that the fold line is parallel to the running direction of the pastry 3. If desired, a flavouring and/or filling may be applied to the upper surface of the pastry 3 prior to completion of the folding operation.

The folded sheet then passes to a rotating cutter 8 which cuts the folded sheet into triangular pieces, each such piece being sealed around its edges.

The individual pieces are then fed to a deep-fat frying arrangement 9 (incorporating a heater schematically referenced as 10) where they are cooked so as to have a total moisture content of less than 7%.

After cooking, the pieces are flavoured in a flavour applicator, drained of cooking oil and packaged in bags. l

Claims

1. A snackfood comprising morsels of cooked spring roll pastry, said morsels having a moisture content of less than 7% by weight.

2. A snackfood as claimed in calm 1 wherein said morsels have been deep fried.

3. A snackfood as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said morsels comprise a single layer of the cooked spring roll pastry.

4. A snackfood as claimed in claim 1 or 2 wherein said morsels comprise a plurality of layers of the cooked spring roll pastry sealed together around their edges.

5. A snackfood as claimed in claim 4 wherein said morsels incorporate a filling.

6. A snackfood as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 5 wherein said morsels are provided with a flavouring and/or a flavoured coating.

7. A snackfood as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 6 wherein said morsels are triangular, square, rectangular, circular or oval.

8. A snackfood as claimed in claim 7 wherein the morsels have a maximum dimension of 0.5 to 1 Ocm.

9. A snackfood as claimed in claim 8 wherein the morsels have a maximum dimension of 4 to 6cm.

10. A snackfood as claimed in any one claims 7 to 9 wherein the morsels are isosceles or equilateral triangles.

I 1. A snackfood as claimed in any one of claims I to 10 wherein the morsels have a moisture content of less than 6% by weight.

12. A snackfood as claimed in claim 11 wherein the morsels have a moisture content of less than 5% by weight.

13. A snackfood as claimed in claim 12 wherein the morsels have a moisture content of less than 4% by weight.

14. A snackfood as claimed in claim 13 wherein the morsels have a moisture content of less than 2.5% by weight.

15. A snackfood as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 14 wherein the spring roll pastry has a thickness of 200pm to 3000pm.

16. A packaged product comprising a sealed bag containing a snackfood as defined in any one of claims 1 to 15.

17. A product as claimed in claim 16 wherein the bag contains a plurality of the cooked morsels.

18. A method producing a snackfood comprising preparing spring roll pastry into the form of snackfood morsel precursors and cooking said precursors to produce snackfood morsels having a moisture content of less than 7% by weight.

19. A method as claimed in claim 18 wherein the snackfood produced is as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 13.

20. A method as claimed in claim 18 or 19 which comprises the steps of: (i) providing a batter for producing a spring roll pastry; (ii) feeding the batter on to a heated surface so as to convert the batter to spring roll pastry; (iii) converting the spring roll pastry to the snackfood morsel precursors; and (iv) effecting said cooking operation.

21. A method as claimed in claim 20 wherein the batter is obtained from a wheat flour having a protein content of 6% to 9% and the batter has been formed with high shear mixing so that gluten does not form a structured product but provides elasticity.