GB974754A - Process for the production of spray-dried food extracts, in particular coffee extracts - Google Patents

Abstract

In the process for the production of a dried food product according to the parent Specification, which comprises charging a food in liquid form with an inert gas under superatmospheric pressure, aromatic constituents of the food having previously been entrained in the inert gas, and thereafter spray-drying the mixture to yield a free-flowing powder, the liquid form of the food is a concentrate prepared from the food after extracting aromatic substances and subsequently carrying out a steam or other treatment deleterious to the aromatic content of unextracted food and the aromatic substances extracted are included with the gas-charged concentrate before the spray drying. The extraction may be carried out by vacuum distillation, steam distillation, solvent extraction, or blowing-out with an inert gas at an elevated temperature. According to an example, from 100 Kg. of roasted coffee beans the aromatic substances were distilled off under vacuum and condensed at about -80 DEG C, after which the steam volatilisable aromatic substances were separated and combined with the vacuum condensate in the form of an emulsion. The residue of the coffee beans from the de-aromatization was then subjected under pressure to steaming for improving the taste and digestibility by removal of caffeine, and was subsequently ground and extracted with water, in part at an elevated temperature of above 100 DEG C. The aqueous concentrate so obtained was then charged with inert gas containing the aromatic substances and thereafter the mixture was spray-dried to powder.