IE44442B1 - Seasoning composition and a process for its preparation - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention relates to a process for preparing a spice mixture characterized by hydrolyzing a blood red cell concentrate, adjusting the pH of the hydrolyzate recovered and recovering the hydrolyzate product. The obtained spice mixture can be used as a meat extract substitute.

Description

The present invention relates to a seasoning composition and to a process for preparing such a composition.

More particularly, the invention relates to a seasoning composition useful as a meat extract substitute.

Conventional meat extracts are usually made from bouillons or broths obtained by aqueous extraction of meat, fish or vegetables. Generally, the meat and/or fish is (are) mixed with vegetables in order to achieve an extract having a stronger taste. Domestically as well as industrially such extracts are used in the form of concentrates as well as in the form of more or less dry products. A typical composition for a conventional extract is as follows: Amino acids, oligo- and polypeptides 10 to 25% 1 by v /eight Salts 50· to 60% tl H Fats 5-to 10% lr tl Spices and flavouring agents 1 to 5% tl tt Water 5-to 20% H » Such extracts are mixed with water to form a bouillon.

Since the yield of extract compared 'with the amount'.of starting material is..low, the final product will be expensive, generally within the range 10. to 20 U.S.$ / ke. In view of this low yield attempts have been made to improve the extraction by using hydrolysis with enzymes or acids. However, i of the low reproducibility because of the variability of the starting materials these attempts have not been successful. Good reproducibility is .essential for extracts bf this type. Variations cannot be tolerated when they result in unacceptable variations in taste and -2view flavour when the compositions are used, for example, in cooking, or industrial preparation of various kinds of foodstuffs. Acid hydrolysis of conventional starting materials also results in decomposition of the fats of the starting materials to form fatty acids , which are undesirable from the point of view of taste of the product.

The present invention provides a seasoning composition comprising a hydrolysate of a blood red cell concentrate, the blood red cell concentrate being uncoagulated animal, excluding human, blood from which plasma has been removed.

In a preferred embodiment of the present invention, the composition is based upon a hydrolysate resulting from acid hydrolysis. According to another embodiment the hydrolysate results from enzymatic hydrolysis .

The present invention also provides a process for preparing a seasoning composition which comprises preparing a blood red cell concentrate by removing plasma from uncoagulated animal excluding human, blood, hydrolyzing the concentrate, and, if necessary, adjusting the pH of the resulting hydrolysate to 6 to 8. The product of this process may be used as such in the form of an aqueous solution, optionally concentrated to a higher dry solids content, e.g. about 80 % by weight, or it can be evaporated to almost dryness to form a powder. Such powder may then be compressed into units having an oval or cubical shape, .as is conventional in the art.

The blood red cell concentrate is preferably hydrolysed by acid hydrolysis. Particularly preferred acids are mineral acids, such as hydrochloric acid and sulphuric acid. When using hydrochloric acid the pH adjustment of the hydrolysate is suitably performed using sodium hydroxide as a base, which results in the formation of sodium chloride imparting desirable saltiness to the product. When using sulphuric acid the base used for adjusting the pH of the hydrolysate is suitably calcium- or barium hydroxide forming the corresponding sulphate, which can be removed by filtration to yield a product -not having the saltiness indicated above.

The hydrolysis of the red cell concentrate may also De performed by using enzymes, i.e.. proteinases, for' example pancreatic enzymes or papain . This embodiment of the invention does not, of course, result in formation of salts other than those originating from the starting material·.

The preparation of the red cell concentrate may be performed in conventional manner by centrifugal separation of the plasma. Plasma is preferably removed to such an extent that the dry solids content (DS) of the concentrate is at least 25% by weight, particularly at least 30% by weight. Since it is generally -44 4 4 4 2 recognized that all types of animal blood have about the same DS concentration equal to about l8* by weight, and that separated plasma contains about 9 % by weight of uS, the amount of plasma to be removed to obtain the desired concentrate will be easily calculated.

When the red cell concentrate is subjected to acid hydrolysis, generally, excess of acid must be used, winch means that the pH of the hydrolysate must be adjusted with a base to arrive at a suitable pH. When using enzymatic hydrolysis, however, it might he necessary to add acid to the hydrolysate in order to adjust the pH to r, to 3. Such adjustment, may, of course, be carried out by using any suitable acid, such as a mineral acid, e.g. HCI, or a carboxylic acid, for example acetic acid, lactic acid, tartaric acid Ol’ citric acid.

Drying of the hydrolysate obtained may be carried or; in a conventional manner, for instance by spray drying using hot air or any other, conventional technique. As indicated above, evaporation may be carried to almost complete dryness to form a powder or may be interrupted at a suitable solids content to form a seasoning concentrate, whichever is desirable.

The present invention pi'ovldes for a highly reliable technique of preparing seasoning composition^· Thus, tlie starting material, animal blood, is a highly useful material in view of its invariable composition irrespective of animal origin. The preferred types of blood originate from domestic animals, such as bovine and hog blood, out the invention is not limited to the -5use of such types of blood. The product obtained has a good and strong taste, its characteristics being easily reproducible.

The invention will now be further illustrated by the following Examples, wherein all percentages are by weight.

Example 1.

Starting from, hog blood, 3000 g red cell concentrate having a dry solids content of 35 $ is prepared by centrifugation and plasma separation. The red cell concentrate together with 1000 g hydrochloric acid, density 1.13 g/cc, transferred to an autoclave, provided with a stirrer. The contents of the autoclave are held at 125°C and 1.2atms overpressure for 10 hours under stirring. lb The autoclave is allowed to cool, and the hydrolysate is removed therefrom, cooled down to environmental temperature and is then neutralized with sodium hydroxide to a pH of about 6.5· After neutralization the hydrolysate is treated with activated carbon and filtered (order of steps not critical) to give a clear solution. Said solution is spray-dried using hot air entering at a temperature of l80°C and leaving at a temperature of 8o°G. 1200 g of a light powder is obtained having the approximate composition: amino acids, oligo- and polypeptides 65 $ Z5 salts (mostly NaCl) 50 $ water . 5 # When the powder obtained is dissolved in water in a suitable amount good-tasting bouillon is obtained, which is stable and clear. -64 4 4 4 2 Example 2.

The procedure of Example 1 above is repeated except that it is carried out in an open vessel provided with a condensor at 95°C for a period of time of 18 hours.

Similar results are obtained.

Example 3.

The procedure of Example ? above is repeated but instead of the hydrochloric acid,350 g concentrated sulphuric acid and 750 g water is used. Moreover, the hydrolysate is neutralized with milk of lime (Ca(0H)2) to a pH of about 7 and is then filtered to remove calcium sulphate. An off-white powder in an amount of 9ϋΰ g is finally obtained, which has a good taste and high stability but not the saltiness of the powders obtained in accordance with Examples 1 and 2.

Example 4.

Starting from mixed bovine and hog blood, 3000 g red cell concentrate having a dry solids content of about 35 % is prepared. The red cell concentrate is transferred to a vessel provided with a stirrer, and then 3 g of papain are added and, at 24 hours intervals, further portions of 3 g each of papain, melting strength 1:350, to a total added amount of 9 g papain. The pH is maintained at 7-0 with hydrochloric acid. The stirring is continued for five days including the 24 hours intervals and during the whole procedure the temperature is held at 40°C.

The hydrolysate obtained is treated with active carbon and is then filtered. After spray-drying in the same manner as described in Example 1, over 900 g powder are obtained having the approximate composition:5 amino acids, oligo- and polypeptides 75 % salts 8 % water 6 % In order to evaluate the product of the invention in comparison with different types of conventional bouillon extracts the product of Example 1 and five commercial products were tested. Blind-testing-was performed in a test kitchen by a test panel comprising 30 experienced persons. The varying salt content of the different products was compensated in relation to that of the product of the invention and the same concentration in solution was used throughout. The products tested were: Product No. Product type. , Hydrolysate of soya, corn and peanuts (the trade name of the product is HVP ST 4 powder), manufactured by HACO, Switzerland).

-. Hydrolysate of several unidentified vegetables (the trade name of the product is AR 3274), manufactured by Food Ingredients Specialities, Copenhagen, Denmark. .

True meat extract! (extract from*Armour, United States of America).

True meat extract II (product from*Bovril, France).

* Autolyzed yeast extract,(Gistex, manufactured by Royal Netherlands Fermentation Industries, Holland).

Product of Example 1 above.

The taste was scored aceording to a scale from -8* Armour, Bovril and Gistex are Trade Marks 4 4 4 2 to 7, where 1 stands for very bad taste and 7 stands for excellent taste. The average scores are presented in the table below: 1. 6. 4.8 .0 .2 -5 -7 -5 Thus, at a significance level of 5 the product of the invention is better than or equally as good as representative, high-quality commercial products of different origins. This is highly remarkable, since the product of the invention was tested without any taste adjustments at all, the product being used exactly as it was obtained in accordance with the procedure of Example 1 above but dissolved in water to form a bouillon.

It can thus be seen that the present invention provides useful seasoning compositions which are useful as meat extract substitutes. The starting material is easily accessible and reproducible as to composition, and the resulting product is comparable with or better than tne conventional products as regards taste and stab.il itv and can be prepared at low cost.

Claims (19)

CLAIMS 1. 5 containing at least 25% by weight dry solids is prepared. 1 0 the concentrate is hydrolyzed using a proteinase .

1. A seasoning composition comprising a hydrolysate of a blood red cell concentrate, the blood red cell concentrate being uncoagulated animal, excluding human,

2. A seasoning composition according to claim 1, wherein the hydrolysate results from acid hydrolysis.

3. A seasoning composition according to claim 1, wherein the hydrolysate results from enzymatic

4. . A seasoning composition according to any of claims 1 to 3, in the form of a dry powder .--5 . A .seasoning composition according to claim 1 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference ]g to any one of the Examples.

5. The acid is sulphuric acid and the pH of the hydrolysate is adjusted with calcium- or barium hydroxide to form the corresponding sulphate which is removed by filtration. 5 blood from which plasma has been removed. Λ

6. A process for preparing a seasoning composition which comprises preparing a blood red cell concentrate by removing plasma from uncoagulated animal, excluding human, blood, hydrolyzing the concentrate,· and, if necessary, 20 adjusting the pH of the resulting hydrolysate to 6 to 8.

7. A process according to claim 5, wherein the concentrate is hydrolysed by acid hydrolysis.

8. A process according to claim 7, wherein the acid is a mineral acid.

9. A process according to claim 8, wherein the acid is hydrochloric acid and the pH of the hydrolysate is adjusted with sodium hydroxide to form sodium chloride.

10. A process according to claim 8, wherein - 10 44442 10 hydrolysis.

11. A process according to claim 6 wherein

12. A process according to claim 11, wherein the proteinase is pancreatic enzyme or papain.

13. A process according to any one of claims 5 to 12, in which a blood red cell concentrate

14. A process according to claim 13 in which the dry solids content is at least 30% by weight.

15. A process according to any one of claims 5 to 14, wherein the product is filtered and the 20 filtrate is concentrated by evaporization to remove water .

16. A process according to claim 15, wherein the evaporization is performed to dryness, the solid residue being recovered. 25

17. A process according to claim 16, wherein the evaporization is effected by spray-drying. •i 4 4 4 a (

18. A process according to claim 6 substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to any one of the Examples .

19. . A seasoning composition whenever prepared £ by a process as claimed in any one of claims 6 to 18.