IE47257B1 - Ice confections and their preparation - Google Patents

Abstract

cQ794(A) A novelty ice confection with a structure designed to confer interesting texture and mouth-feel upon consumption has at least a zone comprising a major proportion of gel beadlets, e.g. fruit-flavoured gel beadlets, and a minor proportion of an interstitial ice containing phase, e.g. an exudate of the beadlets or a fruit sauce, and can be produced by pumping preformed gel beadlets to a freezing station optionally in admixture with a fruit sauce and freezing.

Description

The invention relates to ice confections and processes for their preparation.

In the ice confection industry there is a great demand for novelty products, and for new features of structure, texture and composition to enlarge the range of confections which can be economically produced. One known method of providing novelty ice confections is to incorporate fruit and fruit flavours into ice confections such as ice cream. It is also known from UK Patent- No. 1,234,179 (US Patent 3,()71,205) to produce ice cream products comprising pieces of gelled fruit puree scattered therein.

The present invention aims to provide novelty ice confections which have i uteresting new textures and appearances to please the consumer, and which at the same time are technically convenient to manufacture.

Such an advantageous new feature for novelty ice confection products has been found: use of gel beadlets , for example those described in Patent Nos. 35239 and 38762 Gel beadlets can affect the texture and appearance of ice confections and give a wide range of new products.

The invention therefore provides an ice confection which includes gel pieces and is characterised by possessing at least a zone comprising a major proportion of gel beadlets, and a minor proportion of an interstitial ice-containing phase. The confection (or zone thereof which contains the major proportion of gel beadlets) can for example consist of a frozenmass of gel beadlets. According to the invent ion the confection can he made hy freezing an ice confection mixture having at least a zone comprising a major proportion ol'gel beadlets and a minor proportion of an aqueous interstitial phase. - 3 47257 In a number ol convenient embodiments the ice confection can contain an adjacent zone or zones free of the gel beadlets. The beadlets in such a case can be confined to one or more layers or zones of the ice confection. They can be interspersed with a frozen interstitial ice-containing phase, which can comprise an exudate ol the gel beadlets (which may lorm spontaneously)or an added fruit-flavoured or fruit-containing pulp, sauce or puree.

In one convenient form of the invention the gel beadlets can be in contact with each other, forming a zone in an ice confection, or forming an entire ice confection. In other forms according to the invention the beadlets are separated from contact with each other by the interstitial phase.

A preferred example is a lolly on a stick. It can %e made according to the invention by filling a mould with gel beadlets; inserting a stick; freezing the beadlets which, particularly if there is some exudate on the surface of the beadlets, makes the beadlets adhere to each other; removing the formed lolly on a stick from the mould; and packaging it. If desired, the beadlets can be of <1 j ffeieii I ea1 on rs.

Variants of the above-described lolly on a stick con be produced. For example, the mass of gel beadlets may be only partly frozen and the unfrozen centre sucked out and replaced by another ice confection, for example ice cream or a water ice mixture for subsequent further freezing.

By this method the resulting ice confection has an outer layer of frozen gel headlets and an inner layer or core of ice cream or water ice. In the same or another example of an ice confection according to the invention, the adhesion between the headlets can he facilitated hy addition of a quantity of ice confection mixture to the mass of headlets before freezing, for example a flavoured freezable puree or sauce, such as a fruit puree or fruit sauce.

Another preferred example, in which the gel headlets form a zone of an ice confection, is a lolly in which a water ice is filled into a mould; the water ice is partly frozen; the unfrozen centre is sucked out; gel headlets are filled into the centre; a stick is inserted; freezing is continued which increases adhesion of the gel headlets to each other; the complete lolly on its stick is removed from the mould; and it is packaged.~ An advantage of the forms of the ice confections which include a zone or layer Λ of headlets with another ice confection zone is that the surface marbling of the headlets improves the keying-in of the other zone, for example, the ice cream or the water ice.

Although the size of the gel headlets can vary within wide limits, preferred ranges are 0.5 mm to 15 mm, particularly 4 mm to 8 mm diameter, e.g. 5 mm. These ranges are particularly preferred for the preferred form of the invention just described in which gel headlets in contact with each other form a zone of an ice confection or an entire ice confection. 7 2 5? in another preferred form of the invention the gel beadlets are used to increase the fruit-like impression of dispersed portions of fruit sauce in an iee confection.

Gel beadlets are dosed in fruit sauce into ice confections. The gel beadlets in the sauce simulate the heterogeneous structure of many fruits. For this form of the invention the beadlets are preferably in the range 0.5 to 5 mm, e.g. mm, in diameter.

For use as a zone of an ice confection or as an entire ice confection, the gel beadlets are also preferably fruit flavoured.

For all uses in ice confections the gel beadlets preferably contain sufficient freezing point depressants that they are in a compressible gel .state and bitable at. the temperatures of iee confections wherg eaten, e.g. from -5°C to 10°C. Suitable freezing point ijepressants are sugars. Similarly the gel beadlets must not be so firmly gelled that they are organoleptically unacceptable. Thus, in general, in the zone of the ice confection containing the gel beadlets, the beadlets have a compressible gel consistency while being interspersed with a frozen interstitial phase, e.g. that derived from the exudate mentioned above or from the fruit sauce or puree mentioned above.

A particularly surprising aspect of the invention is thatat least such gel beadlets, i.e. gel beadlets sufficiently soft (o be organoleptically acceptable, are pumpable. This is very convenient since they can he pumped 7 357 through a line from one location to another. This enhances the advantage that the gel headlets have over other techniques of incorporating gel systems as zones in ice confections that is that the gel headlets do not have to he prepared during or at the site of preparation of the ice confection.

Accordingly the invention provides a method of forming a packaged ice confection which comprises pumping gel headlets to an ice confection freezing zone, and freezing if) the gel headlets supplied to the freezing zone to form an ice confection comprising the gel headlets. The ice confection can then he packaged. The gel headlets can suitably form either an outer layer of the confection or the whole mass of the confection. The irregular texture of the moulded product can then facilitate mould release·.

The gel headlets can conveniently he pumped to a doser, for example a standard piston-syringe filler or volumetric doser, in which case the process can comprise dosing the headlets into a mould in the ice confection freezing zone, and freezing an ice confection comprising at least a zone of the headlets, in the mould.

To form a twin-layer product having an outer layer of gel headlets (e.g. as described ahove), the headlets can be filled into a mould optionally in admixture with an amount of the interstitial phase, e.g. a minor amount of for example 5-40^, conveniently up to ahout 20$ί, for example ΙΟ^ό, based on the volume of the headlets. The mass of headlets •or headlets plus interstitial phase (e.g. the fruit puree 7257 or sauce) can then he partly frozen to form a frozen outer layer or shell, and the unfrozen inner layer sucked out and replaced hy a corresponding volume of another ice confection mixture, e.g. ice cream or water ice mixture, before the composite is further frozen. Usually a lolly stick will also he inserted. The frozen product is then packaged.

Of course this procedure can he varied so that the inner layer is composed of the mass of gel headlets and the outer layer is of another composition.

A suitable shape of mould for use is a mould of substantially trapezoidal or oblong shape such as those conventionally used to prepare ice lollies.

Alternative novelty mould shapes can he used ; for example a shape to give the moulded product the general outline of an orange segment.

To he pumpable and organoleptically acceptable, the gel headlets are preferably entire, i.e. are gelled «» throughout. For other purposes within the scope of the invention, the gel headlets can he gel capsules containing a much more liquid centre.

Preferably, although not necessarily, the gel contains fruit pulp. Preferred gel headlets for mechanical ease of handling are alginate or low-methoxy pectate headlets. Beadlets of these materials can he made with such a consistency that they retain their discrete headlet form during the processing steps involved in producing the ice confections according to this invention. Suitable gel formulations have been described in, for instance, Patent No. 35807, German OS 24 59 898 and Patent No. 38762. A very suitable aglinate gel is for example Kanucol EM (Trade Mark) frcm Alginate Industries Ltd. Alginate gels can suitably be used at for example 0,4-2% by weight gel content.

A preferred technique for preparing gel headlets is as indicated in Patent No. 38762 which extruded droplets of sodium alginate or low-methoxy pectate are dropped or thrown into a hath of calcium ions.

The gel headlets used in making ice confections according to this invention can suitably be substantially spherical. However, interesting variations can easily be imparted to the products within the scope of this invention when the headlets used are of some other shape than substantially spherical. They may for example he -only roughly spherical or of a definite non-spherical shape..

The invention is further illustrated hy the following Examples.

Example 1 A mix of the following formulation: Parts hy weight Sodium alginate (e.g. Manucol DM (Trade Mark) 0.50?ό Sucrose 30.00% Glucose 5.00% Fruit (e.g. Blackcurrant) puree iO.00% Trisodium citrate 0.25% Na2HP04 0.04% 7257 Parts hy weight Colour and flavour to taste Water to 100.00% is fed through an internal extrusion tube of apparatus as shown and described in Patent No. 38762 and the droplets formed are allowed to fall into an aqueous calcium-ion hath containing 5% calcium lactate, 2% malic acid and 20% sucrose. The gel headlets formed are pumped to a -moulding and freezing station and frozen to form a lolly as described above: the lolly produced is then packaged in a paper or foil wrap.

Example 2 Gel headlets are formed as described in Example 1 except for the formulation which is as follows: Sodium alginate (Manucol DM (Trade Mark)) Guar gum Na2HP04 Sucrose Trisodium citrate Colour and raspberry flavour Water The headlets formed are blended blender with a fruit sauce containing 75% raspberry puree, 5% 25 malic acid, sugar, stabilizer, colouring, flavouring and water to give a texture, flavour and colour to taste. The relative amounts of headlets and sauce used are about 90:10 hy Parts by weight 0.50% 0.05% 0.04% .00% 0.03% to taste to 100.00% in a standard ribbon - 10 volume. The mixture is pumped to a standard pistonfilling volumetric doser and placed in a mould of trapezoidal shape. The mixture is then frozen in a freezing apparatus, until an outer shell is frozen.

The unfrozen mixture from the core is then sucked out.

Ice cream is then dosed into the centre of the remaining frozen shell, a stick inserted, the whole is hardened, and the composite confection removed from the mould -and packaged in a paper or foil wrap, or an at least partly transparent paper, foil, cellulose film or plastics film wrap, to give an ice confection having an attractive headletted appearance and interesting novel texture and mouth-feel as perceived by tbe consumer. In this Example, both the beadlet component and the interstitial component of the confection contain ice when the produce is frozen at conventional ice confection freezing -temperatures. Both phases are hitable and relatively soft eating . It is clear that interesting variationscan.be achieved by altering the solids content of one or both components, and the gel strength of the beadlets.

Example 3 This Example relates to another fruit-l'lavoured beadletted ice confection containing a core of ice cream.

It is made by a procedure similar to that of Example 2, with the following modifications. The alginate-containing mix had instead the following formulation: (percentages are hy weight): Sodium alginate (Manucol DM) (Trade Mark) 0.5$ Low-methoxy pectin Sucrose Malic acid Trisodium citrate Colour and raspberry flavour Deionised water 0.3$ 24.0$ 0.4$ 0.1$ to taste to 100.0$ The gel beadlets made from this mix by a procedure similar to that of Example 1 were used to form the outer layer of a composite ice confection as in Example 2 but using as interstitial phase the following fruit sauce formulation: raspberry puree 60$; sucrose 17.95$; malic acid 1$; sodium citrate 0.25$; 0.5$ Manucol DM sodium alginate; colour and flavour to taste, and water to 100$.

It is found that the beadlets of this Example are intrinsically fruitier in taste than those of Example 2, but deionised water is needed in their formation.

In the final ice confection product made according to this Example, the inner core of ice cream can if desired be left visible around the stick. The outer layer of beadlets and interstitial phase can if desired be about one beadlet thick overall, and two beadlets thick at the end opposite the stick.

Claims (17)

CLAIMS:

1. An ice confection having at least a zone comprising a major proportion of gel beadlets and a minor proportion of an interstitial ice-containing phase, 5

2. An ice confection as claimed in claim 1, in which the confection or the zone thereof comprising the major proportion of the gel beadlets comprises a mass of gel beadlets in contact with each other.

3. An ice confection as claimed in claim i or 2, in which 10 the gel beadlets are of substantially spherical form.

4. An ice confection as claimed in claim 1,2 or 3, in which the interstitial ice-eontaining phase comprises an exudate of the gel beadlets or an added fruit-flavoured or fruit-containing pulp, sauce or puree. 15

5. An ice confection as claimed in any preceding claim, in which the gel beadlets contain sufficient freezingpoint depressants to he in a compressible gel state.

6. An ice confection as claimed in any preceding claim, in which a zone comprising gel beadlets is in contact with 20 an adjacent zone free of gel beadlets. 4 7 2 5 7 - 13 7. An ice confection as.claimed in claim 6, having a core zone comprising the gel beadlets and an at least partially surrounding zone of ice confection free of gel beadlets. b. An ice confection as claimed in claim (i, having a core 5 zone of ice confection free of gel beadlets and an at least partly surrounding zone comprising the gel beadlels.

7. 9. Ah ice confection as claimed in claim 8, in which the core zone is an ice cream zone.

8. 10. An ice confection as claimed in any preceding claim, 10 in the form of a packaged ice lolly on a stick and having a paper, foil or an at least partly transparent paper, foil, cellulose film or plastics film wrap.

9. 11. An ice confection as claimed in claim 1 and as particularly described in either of Examples 1 and 2. 15

10. 12. A process for producing an ice confection according to claim i, which comprises freezing an ice confection mixture having at least a zone comprising a major proportion of gel beadlets and a minor proportion of an aqueous interstitial phase. 47357

11. 13. A process according to claim 12, in which the confection mixture or the zone comprises a mass of gel, headlets in contact with each other.

12. 14. A process according to claim 12 or 13, in which the 5 gel headlets are of substantially spherical form.

13. 15. A process according to claim 12, 13 or 14, in which the interstitial ice-containing phase comprises an exudate of the gel headlets or an added fruit-flavoured or fruit-containing pulp, sauce or puree. Ιθ'

14. 16. A process according to any of claims 12-15, in which the gel headlets contain sufficient freezing-point depressants to he in a compressible gel state when frozen.

15. 17. A process according to any of claims 12-16, in which the gel headlets are preformed at a distance from the freezing 15 station where the ice confection mixture is frozen, and pumped through a line to the station.

16. 18. A process according to claim 17, in which a mass of headlets is first partly frozen to give a frozen outer layer or shell and an unfrozen centre, and in which the unfrozen

17. 20 centre is then sucked out and replaced by a complementary volume of another ice confection mixture, after which the resulting composite confection is further frozen. 4 7257 15 19, A process according to claim 12, substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to Example