GB2468692A

GB2468692A - Process and recipe for the manufacture of fruit chocolate

Info

Publication number: GB2468692A
Application number: GB0904686A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Albert Zumbe
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 2009-03-19
Filing date: 2009-03-19
Publication date: 2010-09-22
Also published as: GB0904686D0

Abstract

Fruit is employed as an integral part of a chocolate recipe. The fruit component sweetens the chocolate and may partially or completely replace the refined sugar(s) and/or the other bulking ingredients which are usually employed in the manufacture of chocolate. The fruit component is preferably dried fruit powder with a particle size of less than 250 microns. In one embodiment, melted cocoa liquor and fruit powder are blended in a ratio of 1:1 and passed through roll refiner mills to reduce the particle size of these components to less than 25 microns. Cocoa butter and a soya lecithin emulsifier are added and the mixture is couched for 10 hours and 70°C.

Description

Technical Field of Invention

This invention relates to processes and recipes for the manufacture of chocolate that includes the incorporation of fruit preparations as an integral ingredient of the chocolate recipe. Fruit has a definite healthy and nutritious image and by its incorporation into chocolate will improve the " weilness awareness" that retailers will want to give to certain categories of chocolate especially positioned for children and the health conscious. Most important of all fruit is generally regarded as a healthy ingredient and the population at large is encourage to increase their daily consumption. This invention refer to dry powdered fruit which contain much if nor all the inherent content of natural sugar(s). fibre, minerals and vitamins that are not destroyed by the chocolate making process that is present in fruit component used for the manufacture of the chocolate here by described Chocolate has been manufactured for hundreds of years and the standard of identity is regulated by CODEX and individual countries and/or economic areas such as the European Union. The Cocoa and Chocolate Products (England) regulations 2003, ISBN 0110466705.

The above named reference describes plain chocolate is described as a product obtained from cocoa products and sugars, which, contain not less than 35 percent total dry solids, including not less than 18 percent cocoa butter and not less than 14 per cent dry non-milk cocoa solids.

Milk chocolate is described as the product obtained from cocoas products, sugars and milk or milk products which, contains not less than 25 per cent total dry cocoa solids; not less than 14 per cent dry milk solids obtained by partially or wholly dehydrating whole milk, semi-skimmed milk or skimmed milk partly or wholly dehydrated cream, butter or milk fat; not less than 2.5 percent non fat cocoa solids: not less than 3.5 per cent milk fat and not less than 25 per cent total fat ( cocoa butter and milk fat). Family milk chocolate or milk chocolate is described as a product obtained from cocoa products, sugars and milk or milk products which contain not less than 20 percent total dry cocoa solids; not less than 20 per cent dry milk solids obtained by partly or wholly dehydrating whole milk, semi-skimmed or skimmed milk, cream, or from partly or wholly dehydrated cream, butter or milk fat; not less than 2.. 5 per cent dry non-fat cocoa solids; not less than 5 per cent milk fat and not less than 25 per cent total fat ( cocoa butter and milk fat).

White chocolate is described as the product obtained from cocoa butter, milk or milk products and sugars which contains not less than 20 per cent cocoa butter and not less than 14 per cent dry milk cocoa solids obtained by partially or wholly dehydrating whole milk, semi skimmed or skimmed milk, cream, or from partly or wholly dehydrated cream, butter or milk fat, of which not less than 3.5 % is milk fat.

This is basically a recipe description and does not describe the process used to manufacture chocolate. Furthermore, there is not a minimum limit to the quantity of sugars required to qualify for the chocolate description as described by the particular regulation.

Chocolate with filling constitutes not less than 25 per cent of the total weight of the product of the product. As fat is the Continuous phase in chocolate, the filling can be interpreted as a centre, inclusions and br any other food particle which is surrounded by the fat phase.

The processes that have been used in the manufacture of chocolate are described for example in the books "Industrial Chocolate Manufacture and use "(2009) by Steve I Beckett and" Sugar Confectionery and Chocolate Manufacture" by R. Lees and E.J. Jackson.

This particular patent is not limited however to the regulations and also includes chocolate compounds where by cocoa butter substitutes are used in the recipe.

The field of invention also includes powders and fine granules that are rich in fruit, whether it be made from whole fruit, fruit pulp, fruit paste and/or fruit juice and irrespective of the process that is used for their manufacture.

This invention is also caters for wholesome food ingredients that have not been modified by the use of chemical agents, but manufactured by the uses processes which are limited of temperature modification ( for example but not limited to; in roasting, for micro bacterial control, Maillard reactions and/or tempering) and physical processes (for example but not limited to; milling, roll refining, intimate mixing and/or depositing).

This invention is motivated by the need to manufacture a convenient healthy nutritious snack food that will get the approval of the Nutritionists and Health professions that are not entirely convinced that chocolate is healthy due to the incorporation of high quantities of refined sugars, excessive total fat content, genetically modified or chemical emulsifiers, cocoa butter substitutes that may contain trans fatty acids, non natural flavouring agents and/or non traditional natural food colourings. Indeed, many nutritionists criticise the addition of chocolate as a snack food and/or as a part of a lunch pack. This is criticism is particularly aimed at children and indeed chocolate is a banned by many school authorities for consumption on school premises. Unfortunately, this notion of" chocolate is unhealthy" it is also a common criticism by many health conscious consumers and the incorporation of fruit is one way in which the image of chocolate can be improved.

[Chocolate is in fact rich in energy and contains many nutritious components that are essential to good health provide that it is not consumed in excess. This however has nothing to do with this invention and will not be debated in this text].

Description of the prior art

An in exhaustive number of processes used to manufacture food ingredients such as cocoas liquor, cocoa butter, milk powder and fruit powder and are already described for these ingredients.

This is equally true for chocolate. Provided the recipe fulfils the standard of identity of chocolate the process can vary from a simple mix of ingredients to a homogenous mix of ingredients in which the particle size of the solid particles is less than 25 microns in diameter (so as not to be distinguished as particles in the boccal pallet), conched and tempered. Many chocolate preparations do not even fulfil the standard of identity of chocolate although they may look or taste like chocolate and are therefore given fantasy names so that consumers will think they are similar to chocolate.

For many people chocolate has a bad image particularly due to the level of purified sugars in the recipe. This has been addressed by the substitution of the sugar component by sugar polyols with or without added dietary fibre, or by the incorporation of pieces fruit as inclusions or low concentrations of fruit powder into the traditional chocolate recipe (which obviously contains refined or semi refined sugar as an ingredient).

Fruit of various descriptions has been added to liquid chocolate prior to cooling down to form a solid. The types of fruit and fruit preparations used to date are indeed exhaustive and may include for example sugar infused fruit pieces; dried pieces or diced fruit; freeze dried fruit granules; dried milled fruit and br agglomerated fruit powders (all of which may contain fillers or binding agents and br other constituents to permit easier handlings or the stability of the fruit preparation). The point is that these ingredients are added to chocolate and NOT used as an integral ingredient of the chocolate itself. Optionally colouring agents and flavours are added to the fruit itself or the liquid chocolate to re-enforce the impression that the chocolate contains a lot of fruit. In many cases this impression is misleading because there is less than 2 or 3 per cent of real fruit in the recipe.

The traditional chocolate consumer product may have chocolate outer case or layer that has a fruit based filling. The offering is again exhaustive and may include liquid fruit syrups, pastes and/or gels.

Detailed description of the invention.

Various examples of recipes and processes are described which use ingredients that have not been chemically modified, which perhaps the modification of the acidif' level in some of the ingredients to make the fruit chocolate less acidic in taste. The main focus is on the incorporation of non purified fruit preparations, in that the fruit ingredients used are powder and/or granules have been made exclusively from whole fruit, fruit pulp, fruit paste and br fruit juice and not semi purified or purified fruit sugar such as fructose.

There is a limit to how low the fat content can be maintain the consistency of liquid chocolate. This is considered to about 26% fat, below which the heated liquid or paste of tempered chocolate or chocolate compound (which does not require tempering) simply becomes too viscous to handle ( i. e to pump without excessive pressure and/or to mould. Furthermore, there needs to be a continuous fat phase in the chocolate mass to maintain the characteristics of which we are accustomed without the chocolate becoming to dry in the boccal cavity.

Examples:

Example 1. Plain fruit liquid chocolate.

Recipe: cocoa mass 49.55 % apple powder 49.75 % (vacuum dried and milled apple pulp) soya lecithin 0.5% (GMO free) Melted cocoa liquor and fruit powder are blended in ratio of 1: 1 respectively and passed though roll refiner mills to reduce the particle size to less than 25 microns.

This refined chocolate mass is introduced into a conch, and the emulsifying agent is added to bring the total fat content to 26 wt %. This mixture is conched for 5 hours at 75 C to produce plain fruit chocolate.

Example 2. Plain fruit liquid chocolate Recipe: cocoa mass 40% apple powder 40% ( spray dried apple juice) cocoa butter 20% As in example I, although the cocoa butter is added at the conch stage. This mixture is conched for 10 hours at 70 C. Example 3. Plain fruit liquid chocolate Recipe: natural cocoa powder [10/12 % fat] 40% apple powder 35% (spray dried apple paste) cocoa butter 24.5% soya lecithin 0.5% (GMO free) As in example I the powders are mixed and milled in a classifier mill to medium size of less than 32 microns. This powder introduced into a conch where by the cocoa butter and soya lecithin are added into the conch and conched for 8 hrs at 80 C. Example 4. White fruit liquid chocolate Recipe: strawberry powder 52 % ( spray dried strawberry paste) cocoa butter 26.5 % whole milk powder 21.0 % soya lecithin 0.5% (GMO free) The strawberry powder, whole milk powder and melted cocoa butter ( 60% of the cocoa butter of the final recipe) are blended and passed though a five roller mill to reduce the particle size to less than 25 microns. This mass is introduced into a conch, the emulsifying agent is added and the mixture is mixed for 3 hours at 60 C. Example 5. Milk fruit chocolate Recipe: apple powder 49 % ( vacuum dried and milled) whole milk powder 21 % cocoa mass 15% cocoabutter 14.5 % * 5 soya lecithin 0.5% ( GMO free) The apple powder, milk powder, and melted cocoa mass are blended, passed through roll refiners to achieve a particle size of the solids of less than 25 microns and introduced into a conch. The cocoa butter and emulsifying agent are added in stages and the mixture is mixed for 8 hours at 70C to produce liquid milk fruit chocolate.

Example 6.

As in example 5 where by the apple powder is actually a 50% mix of authentic apple and maltodextrjn.

Example 7.

As in example 4 where by the strawberry powder is actually a mix of authentic strawberry and maltodrin in a ratio of 2:1 respectively.

Example 8. Fruit plain chocolate Fruit powder is made from fruit paste which is spray dried into a fine powder. To reduce the natural acidity of for example the strawberry paste p1-I is made more alkaline by the addition of an alkalising agent, to for example a pH of 6.5. This partially de-acidifed fruit powder, when use in the manufacture of fruit chocolate as for in examples 1-7 above in will result in a chocolate which is less acid and with a more acceptable taste profile.

Example 9. Fruit plain chocolate.

As in example 3 although alkalised cocoa powder [10/12 % fat] is used instead of natural cocoa powder. This will result in a plain fruit chocolate which is less acid and with more acceptable taste profile.

Example 10. White fruit powder with fruit granules.

Recipe: strawberry powder 45% (spray dried strawberry paste) freeze dried strawberry granules of less than 4 mm in diameter 7% cocoa butter 26.5% whole milk powder 21 % soya lecithin 0.5% ( GMO free) As per example 4, although the fruit granules are added 30 minutes prior to the end of the mixing in the conch at a reduced mixing speed as not to further break up the granules.

Example 11. Fruit milk chocolate made with crumb.

parts of apple paste (60% solids), 24 parts of full fat liquid milk and 16 parts of cocoa liquor are mixed and dried at reduced pressure of 12 mm of Mercury by heated to approx 80C until the residual moisture is less than 2.0 wt %. The crumb is then pre-ground to a particle size of about 800 microns and passed though roll refiners to further reduce the particle size to less than 25 microns. The crumb is transferred to a conch, to which some cocoa butter and 0.5 wt % lecithin in added. Cocoa butter is added in stages during the mixing to bring the total fat up to 29 wt % and conched for hours at 60C.

Claims

CLAIMS1 A process whereby there in an intimate homogenous mix of cocoa solids and fruit solids as part of a process to manufacture a liquefied chocolate mass.
2 A process in which fruit powder is added to melted cocoa liquor and mixed so that there is a homogenous blend of ingredients with a continuous fat phase. Minor ingredients such as an emulsifying agent and/or a flavouring may be added to the mixture. Refined and/or semi refined sugar is not used in the recipe.
3 As per claim 1 where by an additional milk component in the form of whole milk powder, semi-skimmed milk powder, skimmed milk powder, casein and/or lactalbumin either alone or in any combination of these ingredients is added and mixed into the melted cocoa butter. Minor ingredients such as an emulsifying agent and/or flavouring may be added to the mixture.
4 As per claim 1 where by fruit powder and milk powder are added to melted cocoa butter so there is a homogenous blend of ingredients in which there is a continuous fat phase. Minor ingredients such as an emulsifying agent and/or a flavouring may be added to the mixture.
Refined sugar and/or semi purified sugar is not used in the recipe As per claims 3 & 4 where by the milk component is replaced by soya protein and/or another ingredient which is rich in protein, peptides or amino acids.
6 As per claims 1 to 4 where by the cocoa butter in replaced in part or whole by other fat component (s) which are used in chocolate recipes.
7 As per claim 1 to 4 whereby a proportion of the fruit, in agglomerate, granules or freeze dried milled pieces, are added at the final stages of the mixing or conching in order to actually taste the fruit pieces.
8 An alternative process where by the cocoa liquor and/or cocoa butter chips is mixed with fruit powder and other ingredients that do not include a purified sugar to create a paste, which are optionally reduced in particle size by for example passing though a cylinder refiner or by milling. This mixture is then liquefied into chocolate by the further addition of cocoa liquor or cocoa butter or other fat which is used in chocolate compound. Refined or semi refined sugar is not included into this recipe.
9 The fruit used in the fruit chocolate must be dried and of reduced particle size preferably of less than 250 micro meters in diameter and preferably of a similar particle size to the cocoa solids ( 95% less than 75 micro meters) to enable intimate homogenous mixing of the cocoa and fruit particles.Fruit paste is adjusted to a less acid PH and/or strength prior to drying and subsequent particle size reduction to a powder. This less acid fruit powder is used to manufacture fruit chocolate as described in the previous claims 11 The liquid fruit chocolate in the preceding claims is then cooled or optionally tempered and moulded, deposited onto a solid surface. or extruded into a particular shape.12 The liquid fruit chocolate in the preceding claims is converted into a powder preferably by 1 a)spray crystallisation into a cryogenic chamber or b) cooled cryogenically and kibbled into small pieces and cryogenically milled.13. Alternatively the fruit chocolate can be made by mixing cocoa powder and fruit powder, followed by the addition of cocoa butter or other fat used in chocolate or chocolate compounds in order to liquefy the chocolate. Refined or semi refined sugar is not used in the recipe.14. As per previous claims whereby some refined or semi-refined sugar is optionally used in the chocolate mass recipe but not more than 50% of the fruit component.15. As per claim 14 where by the use of refined or semi refined sugar is optionally used in the chocolate mass recipe but in not more than 20% of the fruit component.16. As per previous claims whereby some maltodextrin or starch is optionally used in the chocolate mass recipe but not more than 50% of the fruit component.17. As per claim 16 where by the use of matodextrin or starch is optionally used in the chocolate mass recipes but not more than 20% of the fruit component.18. The liquid fruit chocolate is made using crumb which comprises of fruit, milk and optionally cocoa.19. The liquid fruit chocolate is made using crumb which comprises of fruit, milk, refined sugar and optionally cocoa.