LU81932A1 - PROCESS FOR FLAVORING FOOD PRODUCTS AND FLAVORED PRODUCT USED FOR THIS PURPOSE - Google Patents

Description

”“ Ί * iÿ "A .AND-DUCHÉ DE LUXEMBOURG OC 5θ.918

Patent N ° ........ Q ........ | ...... ÿ ...... 0 ™ of .29 November 1979 (TO [2S Minister,. , rS ^ SsE? of the National Economy and the Middle Classes

Book title: ........................................

GQyy LUXEMBOURG Industrial Property Department

Patent Application I. Application

..The. ..company, say ...... GENERAL ..... FOODS ..... .CORPORATION., ....... 2.5.o ... North .... JStr.eet /. .. (D

• WHITE PLAINS, ..... New-York ..... lo625, ..... United States of America, ...... represented ... t.ée ..... p.ar ..... MQns.ie.ur ..... J.acg.ue.s .... de. Muyser aglssant ..... in .quality .... of ...................... (¾ ..agent ........ .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ................................

drop this off, vin.gtrneuf ... november 19oo. seventy-nine ............ <8> at ................... .... hours, at the Ministry of National Economy and Middle Classes, in Luxembourg: 1. this request for obtaining a patent for invention concerning: „" EeqgMaliinienfcaires ..... <4> ....... ^ x * .o11¾¾ ........... a .......................... .................................................. .................................................. .........

declares, assuming responsibility for this declaration, that the inventor (s) is (are): 1. -..... Jaunes Patrick MAHLMANN ....... 3 ..... Ryder Road. WAYNE, New Jersey ............ (5) .................... o747of ...... United States. .... from America ........................................... .................................................. ..............................................

2. -..... Steven Mark 2o31 Palmetto Street, ...... RIDGEWOQD, .....................

.................... New ... York ..... 11385. United States of America............................................ .................................................. ...

2. the delegation of power, dated .WHITE -PLAINS ................. on „12 .... November -1979 3. the description in language .... ..english ..................................... of the invention in two copies; 4 .........- // ............. .. drawing boards, in two copies; 5. the receipt of the taxes paid to the Luxembourg Registration Office on ....... 29 November..19.7.9 ................... .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ........................

r * "^^] ffiKX! 5tXK" KKK30CX "X" XX "XKîemX> X" X "" "X" X! X®î "KXKK" X

(6) ............................................... ................................................. filed (s) in (7) ........................................... .................................................. ...........................................

the ................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ...................... (8) in the name of ...................... .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. .......................... (9) elect domicile for him / her and, if designated, for their proxy, in Luxembourg _______________________________________ 35. bat.T Royal .............................................. .................................................. ...................................... (io) requests the issuance of a invention for the subject described and represented in the abovementioned appendices, - with postponement of this delivery to ....... It ...................... .. - months.

i.e. ..... jpan ^ ataiVe ........ ^ _________ ^ .......

II. Deposit Minutes

The above patent application has been filed with the Ministry of National Economy and the Middle Classes, Industrial Property Service in Luxembourg, dated: November 29, 1979

Pr. The Minister at 3 p.m. / '(7 *** ~~% National Economy / and the Middle Classes, • gl y- ¾ | \ p <h ..

AT /; pr V · h.- ..> · *. *? / c -, / | I A 68007 \ "* '* / d OC 5o.918 Brief Description filed in support of a request for

PATENT

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Luxembourg formed by: general foods corporation for: "Process for flavoring food products and flavored product used for this purpose".

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PROCESS FOR FLAVORING FOOD PRODUCTS AND FLAVORED PRODUCT USED FOR THIS PURPOSE

The present invention relates to aromatic particles of plant substances such as coffee, cereal grains and / or chicory.

Soluble powders for beverages, like spray-dried coffee products, are relatively devoid of flavor compared to the parent substance, especially roast and ground coffee. A low intensity of aroma also exists in certain types of roasted coffees such as most decaffeinated coffees and the compressed roasted coffees described in US Pat. Nos. 1,903,362, 3,615,667 and 3,801,716. weak aroma initially have a small amount of aroma so that upon initial opening of the product by the consumer, and regardless of the amount of aroma present in the product, it is quickly dissipated after opening initial container so that subsequent openings of the container during a typical product use cycle give off little or no flavor.

Note that the term "coffee product", as used in this invention, means not only products containing 100% coffee but also substitute coffees and diluted coffees which may contain roasted beans (e.g. wheat), chicory and other plant substances, alone or in combination with coffee.

To date, most of the effort to add natural flavor to food products has been focused on adding flavor from roasted coffee to soluble coffees such as spray dried or freeze dried coffee. The field of the present invention therefore undoubtedly lies in the field of flavoring coffee products, but the application of this invention to the flavoring of other food products is however contemplated.

At present, practically all of the soluble coffees on the market are combined with coffee oil, for example by spraying onto the soluble coffee before it is packaged with a pure or flavor-enriched coffee oil. In this way, soluble coffee will have an aroma closer to that of roast and ground coffee that is not decaffeinated. The addition of oil is generally carried out by the well-known technique of oil plating (described in US Patent No. 3,148,070) or by oil injection (described in US Patent No. 3,769,032). At present, commercial roasted coffee products do not contain any added flavor, all attempts to obtain a more aromatic product concerning the preservation of the aromatic products contained in freshly roasted coffee beans.

Coffee oil, with or without added flavors, was the preferred medium used to flavor coffee because the products could still be considered pure coffee; however, the techniques developed for the production of coffee oil (See Sivetz, Coffee Processing Technology, Vol. 2, Avi Publishing Company, 1963, pages 21-30), such as solvent extraction or expression coffee oil from roasted coffee is not particularly suitable since the manufacturer is left with either roasted coffee containing solvent or with an expressed cake, both of which must be treated or rejected. The addition of oil to a coffee product has also been found to be troublesome in that, undesirably, oil droplets may appear on the liquid beverage prepared from the oil-containing product. Thus, it would be advantageous to develop methods of flavoring coffee products which use coffee or other vegetable substances, but which do not require the production or addition of coffee oil or any other glyceridic substance.

Particles of plant material having an essentially insoluble cell structure and a natural oil content of at least 1% and preferably at least 3% by weight, such as coffee, beans (eg wheat) or chicory, particles which may be in the form of whole roasted coffee beans or subdivided particles of coffee, (3 of roasted wheat or chicory, including ground or ground particles the colloidal state. The particles can be obtained from compressed roasted coffee or even from spent coffee grounds, such as the marc obtained from the manufacture of soluble coffee. These particles are brought into contact with volatile aromatic compounds. so that the aromatics are trapped or adsorbed in amounts greater than 0.1% by weight. While it is theoretically possible to adsorb aromatics in amounts up to about 5% by weight, levels s higher than 1% are difficult to obtain in practice. Conventional roast and ground coffee to which aromatics have not been added contains less than 0.05% by weight. Preferably, the flavored particles according to this invention will contain aromatics in an amount of 0.2% or more, typically about 0.5%. This flavored roasted material is combined with low flavor coffee products at an appropriate weight level to achieve the desired flavor. A level of about 0.05% to 2% of added particles is used when the insoluble or only partially soluble particles are combined with a soluble powder to limit the amount of sediment in the reconstituted product. A level of aromatics in the particles of only 0.1% by weight would typically require the addition of more than 5% of these particles in the low flavor coffee product. When the flavored particles are combined with an insoluble material, it is obviously possible to use a higher rate, say up to 10% by weight.

When it is desired to obtain particles less than 200 µm, cryopulverization techniques, as described in the U.S. Patent. No. 3,965,267, have proven useful. Conventional soluble coffee, such as spray-dried or freeze-dried coffee, has not been found to be a carrier usable when used in the process of this invention. It has not been found that the soluble coffee powder adsorbs, retains or stabilizes the aromatics to the same degree or in the same manner as the roasted coffee, beans or chicory which are used in the present invention.

The methods of bringing the roasted particles into contact with the aromatic compounds, in order to trap the aroma in the particles, are numerous and varied. The use of high pressures and / or low particle temperatures can maximize the uptake of flavor or decrease the time required to obtain a desired rate of flavoring; however, such conditions are not necessary. It will often be advisable, however, to minimize the amount of water which comes into contact with the particles before, during and after flavoring. The water content and the amount of material supplying the aromatics to the roasted particles should be adjusted so that the water content of the particles is kept below about 15% by weight. Appropriate condensation, vaporization, entrainment and / or other separation techniques can be used to separate the water and aromatics contained in the gas streams carrying the aromas, the aromas of the aromas or the aromatic condensates. liquids. It may also be advisable to separate the aromatic products from any carrier gas (for example CO2) in which they are entrained. Among the techniques that can be used to adsorb aromatic compounds in roasted particles, let us quote: (1) the technique which consists in placing a mixture of roasted particles and a condensed CC ^ / aroma in a container under aeration, preferably with -above -40 ° C, and to allow the CO ^ portion of the frost to sublimate; (2) the technique of enclosing roasted particles and condensed aromatic frost in one or two connected pressure vessels, then raising the temperature in the frost vessel to vaporize the frost and provide high pressure; (3) the technique of combining a highly concentrated aqueous aromatic condensate with the roasted particles to a level at which it does not unduly moisten the particles; (4) the technique of condensing the aromatics on the cooled roasted particles; (5) the technique which consists in passing a stream of gas with a low water content and carrying the aromas in a bed or a column of roasted particles.

The aromatics which can be used in this invention can come from any of the many sources well known to those skilled in the art. Depending on the contact technique that will be used, the aromas may be present in the form of a component of a gas, a liquid condensate or a condensed frost. Among the flavors that can be used are the aromas of coffee oil, as described in the patent of E, ü.A. No. 2,947,634; the aromas obtained during the roasting of green coffee, as described in the US patent. N® 2,156,212; the aromas obtained during the grinding of roasted coffee, such as. described in the U.S. patent N® 3,021,218; volatile aromas distilled with steam entrainment obtained from roasted and ground coffee, as described in US patents. 2,562,206, 3,132,947, 3,244,521, 3,421,901, 3,532,507 and 3,615,665, and the vacuum distilled flavors obtained from roasted and ground coffee, as described in U.S. patents. Nos. 2,680,687 and 3,035,922. It would also be possible to use volatile synthetic chemical compounds which reproduce or simulate the aromatic compounds naturally present in roasted coffee. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, the addition of volatile aromatic compounds to food products will also, in addition to the desired flavor enhancement, have a flavor effect due to the presence of some amount of the compounds in the food product at the time of consumption.

According to an embodiment of this invention, a coffee aromatic gas containing a high proportion of carbon dioxide, preferably more than 80% by weight, is obtained from a source such as industrial coffee grinding equipment. This gas is preferably passed through a first refrigerant where it is cooled to a temperature of 2 ° C to 10 ° C and where most of the water contained in the gas is condensed. This gas is then brought to a coolant, such as a jacketed, scraped-wall heat exchanger, cooled using a liquid gas such as liquid nitrogen, where the gas is condensed in the form of a frost of carbon dioxide.

The frost is then placed in a pressure vessel where it is heated, for example using a jacket of surrounding water, to at least 29 ° C and, preferably, to a temperature between about 2 ° C and 65 ° C. The amount of frost and the size of the pressure vessel are adjusted so that a gas pressure of at least 6.8 atmospheres will build up in the container (s). When the temperature of the frost increases above about - 56.6 ° C, the solid carbon dioxide contained in the frost is transformed into a liquid phase and / or a saturated vapor phase carrying the aroma.

The aromatic carbon dioxide vapor is then allowed to come into contact with roasted coffee, wheat and / or chicory, this contact taking place in the same container as that in which the frost is vaporized or in a second container into which the aroma-carrying carbon dioxide vapor is brought. As will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, when two or more containers are used, the total volume of all containers and fittings will be inversely proportional to the pressure that builds up in the system.

After the desired contact time, the container containing the weakly flavored roasted adsorbent will be isolated if necessary, then cooled, generally to a temperature below 0 ° C and, preferably, below - 45 ° C, before opening it to the atmosphere. This cooling step will cause additional coffee aromatics to be adsorbed due to the adsorption capacity of the adsorbent (i.e., by capillary condensation in the microporous structure). It would, of course, be possible to maximize this additional adsorption by cooling to the temperature where frost will form again. At this time, the pressure in the container would approach atmospheric pressure and it is often advisable then to heat and vent the container to remove carbon dioxide and raise the temperature of the contents above 0 ° C.

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7

When separate containers are used for the frost and the adsorbent material, it is possible to collect a portion of the aromatics which may be released from the container containing the adsorbent with carbon dioxide.

This can be done by isolating the frost container and cooling it to re-condense the carbon dioxide into frost. If this container containing the cooled frost is then connected to the discharge line of the container containing the adsorption, the evacuated vapors will pass into the container containing the frost or they will be condensed and available for flavoring additional quantities of coffee, wheat and / or chicory, roasted.

It has not been found that the particular particle size of the roasted coffee, wheat and / or chicory to be flavored according to this invention is decisive. The use that will be made of the particles carrying the arOme may allow this parameter to be chosen. For example, it may be indicated: (1) to flavor whole coffee beans, some of which will be introduced into a container of roasted and ground or soluble coffee products, giving a product having a unique appearance; (2) to flavor roasted coffee, wheat and / or chicory, the size of which must correspond to that of a roasted and ground product with which they are to be mixed, and (3) to flavor particles having a dimension of 840 microns or less to incorporate them into a soluble coffee product. A finely ground roasted material having a particle size of less than 200 microns and preferably about 25 microns can advantageously be obtained by using the cryopulverization technique of the US patent. No. 3,965,267. Particles of colloidal size can also be used.

It is believed that the oil content of the roasted particles, of at least 1% and preferably at least 3%, improves the ability of the cellular particles to trap aromatics. This improvement can be demonstrated by adsorption of a greater quantity of aromatic products and / or of a wider spectrum of aromatic products. It has also been found that this oily component can also have a useful purpose when a flavored powdered food material produced according to this invention is packaged in glass jars, because even very small amounts of oil contained in the 5 packaged product, will prevent small particles of material from sticking to the inside of the glass jar, which could produce an unpleasant appearance.

The water content of the starting substance (coffee, wheat and / or roasted chicory) must be below 7% to avoid problems of stability of the fixed aromatic products, in particular during the period before the adsorber bant carrying the aroma is combined with the coffee product of weak aroma. Once the combination is done,. the excess water which may be present in the adsorbent carrying the aroma will migrate into the weak aroma product which has previously been dried to a stable water content. Since the flavored adsorbent can be added at a level of less than about 2% of the weight of the low flavor material, the total amount of water transferred may be insignificant.

The invention is further illustrated by the following examples, but is not limited thereto.

Example 1

300 grams of roasted and ground coffee are placed in a 2-liter Parr bomb purged with carbon dioxide. A second Parr bomb containing 200 grams of grinding gas frost is placed in a water bath at 50 ° C., which causes the frost to sublimate and gives an internal temperature of approximately 24 ° C. and a maximum pressure of '' about 62.2 atmospheres. Using a high pressure connection tube, the two Parr cans are then kept at room temperature for three hours. The bomb containing the roasted and ground coffee is isolated, then cooled and kept at approximately - 70 ° C for 10 hours. Then, we put this bomb in the open air and heat it to 0 ° C.

The resulting flavored roast and ground coffee has an intense aroma of freshly roasted coffee.

Example 2

200 grams of grinding gas frost and 300 grams of roasted coffee of 9 normal grit (average particle size of 860 microns) are placed and sealed in a 2 liter Parr bomb in a CC ^ atmosphere. Three layers of paper towels are placed between the frost and the coffee as a water adsorbent from the frost to minimize the agglomeration of the roasted coffee. Then the contents of the bomb are heated to room temperature (24 ° C) for three hours during which a pressure of about 41.8 atmospheres is established, and these conditions are maintained for an additional hour.

The bomb is cooled using dry ice for up to 20 hours until the internal pressure returns to atmospheric pressure. Then, using an ice bath, the Parr bomb is heated to 0 ° C under about 14.6 atmospheres; CO 3 is then slowly removed from the system. Under a CO ^ atmosphere, the Parr bomb is opened, the flavored roasted coffee is removed and it is combined with coffee powder spray-dried and agglomerated at a rate of 0.58% by weight (1 gram for 170 grams of powder) and it is sealed in a glass jar under an atmosphere of CC ^.

Example 3

The procedure of Example 2 is repeated using fine ground roast and ground coffee (average particle size of 620 microns) and whole beans in place of normal ground coffee. The closed jars of each of these three variants are periodically evaluated, both organoleptically and with a gas chromatograph, and compared to a flavored control sample by adding coffee oil enriched with gas aroma. 30 of grinding (ratio of frost to oil of 1.8: 1) in a jar of 170 grams of coffee dried by spraying and agglomerated, this addition being carried out at a rate of 0.2%. The flavored coffee oil is prepared according to the high pressure decantation technique described in U.S. Patent No. 4,119,736. Thus, the quantity of grinding gas frost consumed in the preparation of all the samples is at a comparable level (0.67 per 0.61 gram per jar). Table I summarizes the relative amount of total volatile hydrocarbon compounds present in 1 ml of headspace in closed jars, as a function of time, with storage at 35 ° C.

TABLE I

Storage stability at 35 ° C of flavored soluble coffee 5 Average chromatographic number in millions (ί 10%)

Coffee Coffee

Roasted Beans Oil

Carrier of whole coffee with fine aroma grinding_Control_ roasted normal_ grinding 10 Shelf life (weeks) 0 1.75 1.10 4.30 2.00 2 1.81 1.15 3.60 2.20 15 4 1.75 1.13 - 1.80 6 1.60 1.00 3.10 1.90 8 1.50 1.15 3.10 2.00 10 1.40 1.20 3.10 1 2 3 4 5 6 L Examination of Table I shows that the aro 2 soluble coffee matified with particles of different sizes of flavored roasted coffee 3 behaves very well with regard to 4 the headspace count regardless of the initial aromatic level 5. Organoleptic evaluations confirm the previous results.

At the same time as the chromatographic measurements, periodic organoleptic evaluations are carried out on each sample using a jury of trained coffee tasters. Briefly, a typical organoleptic evaluation has two elements. The oxygen content of the closed jar is first determined using a Beckman Oxygen Analyzer, Model C2. The oxygen content must be lower by 4%. Then, open the jar and note the relative quality, intensity and nature of the aroma in the headspace, using three or four experienced experimenters, each with its own set of samples. Then, the jars are ranked according to their relative intensity (impact) on a scale of 1 (zero) to 9 (very intense) and according to their relative qualities on a scale of 1 (extremely 11 poor) to 9 (excellent). The second phase of evaluation involves preparing a cup of instant coffee and determining the relative immediate aroma and flavor of each cup. Finally, a visual examination of the surface ace-5 of each cup is made, noting the presence of oil, roasted coffee or any other material. In addition, for these samples, the cups are carefully decanted and the presence of sediment is noted. In general, a rough approximation indicates that 40% of the cups prepared with the normal grinding sample have one to five spots on the surface and / or a marc-like sediment at the bottom of the cup. For the fine grind sample, approximately 30 to 40% of the cups prepared contain a slight marc-type sediment after decanting the beverage. The surfaces of all samples are completely oil-free. The control sample containing coffee oil gives cups having a notable oily surface.

Tables II and III summarize the average opinions of the experimenters regarding the impact of flavor 20 and the quality in the jar, depending on the shelf life.

TABLE II

Effect of storage at 35 ° C on the evaluation of the impact of the aroma (Scale from 1 to 9) 25 Duration Oil Beans Grind Grind (whole) whole normal fine coffee 0 7.5 6.5 6.5, 5 7.0 2 6.0 5.0 6.0 6.5 4 5.5 4.5 6.0 6.0 30 6 5.7 5.0 6.0 6.0 8 6.0 5, 0 6.0 5.5 10 6.0 6.0 6.0 ♦ "12

TABLE III

Effect of conservation at 35% C on the evaluation of the quality of the aroma (Scale from 1 to 9)

Duration Oil Beans Grind Grind Grind 5 (Weeks) whole coffee fine fine 0 7.0 6.5 7.0 7.0 2 5.7 5.0 7.0 6.5 4 5.0 4.0 6.5 5.5 10 6 6.0 4.0 5.5 5.5 8 6.0 5.0 6.0 5.0 10 6.0 6.0 6.0. As can be seen from the previous results, the impact and quality of the aroma of the various variants tested are comparable to that of the control. The chromatographic analysis of the variants always shows a composition of head space very similar to that of the control.

After ten weeks of storage at 35 ° C., the closed jars are evaluated in a use effect which reflects a simulation of the real use day by day by the consumer. The results of this study show that the three variants have an impact and flavor quality comparable to those of the control.

25 Example 4

Dry spent coffee grounds are dried at a water content of 7% by weight and 300 grams of this product are placed in a 2 liter Parr can containing a bottom layer of 200 grams of ground gas frost and a layer of 30 paper towels. Then the bomb is closed, it is heated to room temperature (about 59 atmospheres) and, after 3 hours, the bomb is cooled with carbon dioxide snow to bring the internal pressure to atmospheric pressure. Then the bomb is introduced into a water bath, heated to 350 ° C. and evaluated. Then mix the spent marc flavored with soluble coffee powder at a rate of 0.5%.

After storage under inert conditions, the resulting product is characterized as having a pronounced and pleasant coffee-like aroma with slightly greener notes.

* J

13 as the products of Examples 2 and 3.

Example 5

Cryopulverization of roasted Colombian coffee beans is carried out using liquid nitrogen as the cryogenic fluid. The ground particles have an average size of 125 microns and are stored in a dry atmosphere. The particles are then mixed thoroughly with a frost of coffee grinding gas at a weight ratio of 1.2: 1. The mixture is then transferred to a pre-cooled pinhole vent jar and stored at -8 ° C overnight. Then, the flavored particles are combined with an agglomerate of spray-dried coffee, at a rate of 0.2% by weight, and conditioned in glass jars under an inert atmosphere. After prolonged storage, we find that the jars contain a pleasant aroma of head space.

Claims (8)

14 y * 1. Flavored dry food product, characterized in that it comprises a mixture of a food material of weak aroma and particles of a vegetable material loaded with aroma, said particles representing from 0.05 to 10% by weight food material, said plant material having an essentially insoluble cellular structure and said particles containing in adsorption an amount of aromatic volatile matter greater than 0.2% by weight, sufficient to give a pleasant headspace aroma to the dry food product . 2. Product according to claim 1, characterized in that the vegetable material is chosen from the group comprising roasted coffee, roasted beans, roasted chicory, and combinations thereof. 3. Product according to claim 2, characterized in that the food material of weak aroma is a soluble coffee product and that the particles charged with aroma are present in an amount of 0.05 to 2%. 4. Product according to claim 2, characterized in that the food material with low aroma is a product of roasted coffee. 5. Product according to claim 4, characterized in that the roasted coffee product is decaffeinated coffee. 6. Product according to claim 1, characterized in that the plant material has a natural oil content of at least 3% by weight. 7. Method for obtaining a headspace aroma for a food product of weak aroma, conditioned and dry, * 30 characterized in that it comprises the stages consisting in: a) bringing into contact particles of plant material with volatile aromatic compounds, so that these aromatic products are adsorbed by the particles in an amount greater than 0.2% by weight, said plant material having an essentially insoluble cellular structure and a natural oil content of at least 3% . by weight, b) combining the flavored particles of step a) with a food material with a low dry aroma> at a rate of 0.05% to 2% by weight, and c) conditioning the combination from step b) in a tightly closed container. 8. Method according to claim 7, characterized in that the plant material is ground to a particle size less than 200 microns in diameter, before flavoring. %