NL7906747A - PROCESS FOR PREPARING DEHYDRATED EDIBLE PRODUCTS. - Google Patents

Description

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Applicant: Unilever N.V. in Rotterdam

Title: Process for the preparation of dehydrated edible products.

The Applicant lists as inventors: IAN ANDREW CHALLEN, 30 Rushmere Way, Rushden, Northamptonshire, England; SANDRA EAST, 40 Ennerdale Road, Rushden, Northamptonshire, England; GEORGE ROBERT SANDERSON, 38 Mendip Crescent, Bedford, England.

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The present invention relates to a process for the preparation of dehydrated edible products, in particular such products containing pieces or particles of crushed food, for instance from pureed meat and vegetables. The invention also relates to the dehydrated, edible products thus obtained.

Dried foods that can be reconstituted by the addition of water are well known. As examples 10 can be mentioned: soups, dessert products and edible snacks or snacks. Some of these products, commonly referred to as "ready-to-use" or "instant" products, are ready for consumption within a short time after reconstitution, eg 13 2 minutes, while others need to soak for a longer time to 15 to rehydrate food ingredients It will be understood that rehydration conditions will depend on the nature of the ingredients making up the food If the food contains chunks of dried vegetables or meat, it may be necessary be that 70 Π fi7 4 7 i /% * -... i '^.,..

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so that it can no longer resemble the original food. For example, it has been found that rehydrated, freeze-dried tomato pieces may be unacceptably light in color, spongy and "inadequate in flavor." Moreover, such pieces are also expensive. - r „t. * * -: - S-. -: 5. · ·

An alternative source of dried edible products is described in ^. "; 20 described the patent literature (Belgian patent specification 836,194).

The preparation thereof is carried out by a dispersion of crushed foodstuffs in an aerated gel of calcium alginate or calcium. to form pectate, cut the gel into pieces and dry these pieces. The use of an aeration agent is expensive and in some cases can also lead to an undesirable spongy texture of the rehydrated pieces. So this approach also has. its drawbacks. ...

*** _. Surprisingly, it has now been found that non-aerated alginate gels containing crushed foods, for example purees, after being cut and air-dried, can be processed to produce dried pieces of foodstuff which - for ready-to-use products are acceptable. . · "· 35". · ·

Alginate solutions are known to have the property of forming films upon drying. It is therefore not quite far. · Racially, and in fact that was also established by the Applicant, ^ Ν * 79 0 674 7 r * ». , * · · T> «c, .- \. * .- :. , · («*. · '- - * -3- Q 1004 (L) • * - that even pieces of alginate gel tend to form films after air drying. In some cases, depending on a», the geometry of the pieces of gel before being dried, a dried outer sheet with a hollow interior is obtained. Such an effect can be achieved when gelled cubes are dried. It should be noted, however, that the dried raw materials thus obtained have very poor rehydration properties. .

* • * * * 10 On the other hand, as described below, according to the following.

The present invention includes a crushed foodstuff in the gel matrix, mimicking excellent texture, pieces of vegetables or meat are obtained after rehydration of the air-dried pieces of gel. Without now being bound by theory, the presence of the comminuted food particles seems to prevent the alginate network from collapsing with the accompanying film formation, and this presence in the dried products leads to comminuted food particles which are completely dried alginate matrix are dispersed.

The food particles can therefore hydrate freely - when water is added, but are thereby prevented from separating by the alginate matrix. The result is that separate rehydrated particles are formed.

The invention therefore relates to a process for the preparation of a dehydrated edible product, wherein a composition is dried, which consists of a finely divided, eg crushed or mashed, foodstuff dispersed in an edible (and preferably thermostable gel, which has not undergone aeration and which has a gel strength corresponding to a value of at least 200 grams, as determined by the method described below.

Since the gel has not been aerated, it does not exhibit any percentage volume increase or overrun at all, before drying, or otherwise to a small extent, because inadvertent air bubbles have been incorporated into the material, but not to the extent that it contains a foam. ^ occur, eg not more than 10%, preferably 5% or less, N.79 0 67 4 7 * 1 «

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♦ • It is desirable that the product has the property when immersed in water, eg hot water, within 60 S 120 seconds in 5. to rehydrate satisfactorily. Of course, in the preparation of the gels, no aerating or foaming agents are added as such; if ingredients are added for other reasons.

which have the property of promoting aeration, this addition is limited to such amounts that any foam-promoting effect is negligible.

* · *

In order to obtain a dried product which can rehydrate satisfactorily, the drying preferably takes place by air or by means of an oven.

15

Gel strength can be measured using a commercially available Instron brand test equipment, which compresses a gel of certain dimensions between two plates at a defined rate; the stress increases to a peak at the yield point and the yield stress is a measure of the gel strength. Of the gels used in the present invention, the gel strength is at least 200 grams for a cylindrical gel sample of 12 mm diameter and 12 mm height which is compressed at 5 cm / minute. It is desired that the gels have an even higher strength corresponding to 350 or more; in any case acceptable is a strength of 600 or 700 or more.

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A particularly suitable process for the preparation of gels that yield satisfactory dehydrated products according to the invention is a process that achieves rapid gelation (for example, a gel time of less than 30 minutes, eg 6 minutes), such as, for example, described in British patent application 36085/78 att Unilever Limited, the content of which is hereby incorporated by reference. According to the method described in this application, solid calcium sulphate particles, for example in the form of an aqueous slurry with a comminuted food, are quickly mixed with a gellable aqueous sol of alginate or low methoxy pectate. , then under- * "* ^ 79 0 674 7» '*% * r -'. ·, γ · '_:;. -. * * * • f.., * * * · «' V *.

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shear stress-free conditions, the solid calcium sulfate is allowed to dissolve and the mixture is allowed to gel.

• * * ♦

However, other methods of preparing gels which are dehydrated are also suitable for carrying out the present invention, for example the method described in Applicants' Dutch patent application 7115640. The method described in that application relates to the rapid preparation of a mixture consisting of an alginate - or a low-methoxy-pectate sol, a source of calcium ions (eg dicalcium phosphate) which, in the absence of a calcium ion-releasing agent (eg acid), does not provide enough calcium ions to gel the sol, fruit purée or puree and a agent capable of releasing calcium ions, after which the mixture thus prepared is allowed to gel under conditions in which there are practically no shearing forces.

Dried using the present invention. ; pieces of vegetable and meat obtained which, after being reconstituted in water for 1 S, have excellent color, aroma and texture.

* * »- *

After the gel is formed, it can be cut to the desired shape, eg, cubes, strips, and dried using a commercially available air drying equipment, eg, an oven or continuous airflow dryer. Preferably, the temperature for drying is in the range of 60 ° to 80 ° C.

The use of lower drying temperatures leads to longer drying times, while the use of higher temperatures can result in an unacceptable loss of aroma and carbonization. Drying can also take place or be facilitated by using vacuum and / or a drying agent such as PgOg or calcium chloride.

For most applications, it is desirable that the particles be dried to a final moisture content of 4-12%, preferably \ 4-9%, e.g. 7%. The choice of suitable drying conditions depends on the type of gelled crushed food to be dried and on the purpose for which it is used, such conditions can be easily determined by a simple Drying determined. Drying may be desirable in 7906747 "," "<5? V; -" · * *. * - *. "<···.

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If necessary, the rehydration can be improved and the texture of the rehydrated particles appropriately changed by adding a texture modifying agent during the gel preparation step. Such texture modifiers are usually essentially protein-containing compounds or carbohydrates, for example casenates, albumen, gelatin, starch derivatives, cellulose derivatives, carrageenans, xanthan gum, etc. For economic reasons, the use of an inexpensive texture modifier is preferred . It has been found that acceptable results are obtained with precooked or modified starch products in an amount of about 0.5-3% by weight, based on the gelled comminuted food. . The dehydrated products of the invention may be in the form of particles, discs or small cubes, or other regular or irregular pieces of a suitable shape.

25

Although the products obtained by the method of the present invention can be used without objection in ready-to-use products, their structure remains unaffected and they retain their organoleptic properties even when rehydration takes place under longer and extreme conditions, eg at Boil for 20 minutes in water, and can therefore generally be used in dry foods, eg dry soup mixes.

The invention is illustrated by the following Examples, while the following table shows the composition of the mixtures used therein.

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Example I

A gel containing 40% by weight of crushed tomato (solids content 28 ^ 30%) was prepared by mixing together an alginate phase and a phase formed by a crushed foodstuff, the composition of which is described in the accompanying table, after which it is mixture under shear-free conditions. The gel was cut into cubes, the ribs of which ranged from 0.4 to 2.0 cm, which were dried at 75 ° C for 4 hours in a commercially available continuous air dryer. The dried product had an average moisture content of 8.7¾ and was rehydrated in boiling water after about one minute, yielding tomato pieces with excellent flavor and pleasant texture.

v t 15 Example II *. According to Example I, a gel was prepared containing 40% by weight of comminuted cooked chicken, the alginate phase and the comminuted food phase having the composition described in the accompanying table. The gel was cut into 0.8 cm ribs, which were dried at 70 ° C for three hours in a continuous air dryer.

The dried product had an average moisture content of 8.1% and upon rehydration in boiling water, after two minutes, it obtained a fibrous texture somewhat related to boiled chicken.

- *. 25 · "*". Example III * '.

According to Example I, a gel was prepared containing 30% by weight of crushed red pepper and having a composition as described in the accompanying table. The gel was diced (1.5 cm x 30 0.6 cm x 0.4 cm), placed in a pilot plant fluid bed dryer (Model FBD / L72 ex PRL Engineering Limited) for 2.5 hours at 70 ° C were dried. The dried product obtained, the average moisture content of which was 6.1%, retained its strong red color after nine months of storage and was rehydrated in boiling water after about 35 minutes, yielding simulated pepper pieces with excellent color, aroma and ........ texture.

7906747

Claims (12)

Process for the preparation of a dehydrated edible product, wherein an edible gel is dried, characterized in that without the use of aeration an edible gel is prepared in which a finely divided foodstuff is dispersed, which gel has a gel strength corresponding to a yield strength of at least 200 grams, when a cylinder of the gel with a diameter of 12 mm and a height of 12 mm is pressed between plates moving at a speed of 5 cm / min. move towards each other, and a rehydratable dehydrated product is formed during the drying of the gel. / - * 2. Process according to claim 1, characterized in that the gel is obtained by quickly mixing solid calcium sulphate particles with a gel of aqueous alginate or low-methoxy pectate gel, after which the solid calcium sulphate is dissolved under shear-free conditions and the mixture is allowed to gel. * ♦ Process according to claim 1, characterized in that the gel is obtained by rapidly preparing a mixture consisting of: an alginate or a low methoxy pectate sol, a source of calcium ions which, in the absence of a calcium ion-releasing means does not provide enough calcium ions to gel the sol, fruit puree or puree and a calcium ion releasing agent, and the mixture thus prepared is allowed to gel under substantially shear-free conditions. Process according to claim 1, characterized in that the gel is an alginate or low methoxy pectate gel. 5. A method according to claims 1-4, characterized in that the gel strength of the gel corresponds to a yield stress of at least 350 grams under the indicated conditions. Method according to claims 1 to 5, characterized in that the dried gel is completely or substantially rehydrated in a hot water Γ * JL immersion within 60 - 120 seconds. ^ 7906747 - r · '. * * »* * * T. * ♦ 1 -11- * Q 1004 (L) A method according to claims 1-6, characterized in that the gel is air dried at a temperature of from 60 ° C to 80 ° C. 8. Method according to claims 1-7, characterized in that the gel is dried to a moisture content of 4 to 12% by weight. 9. A method according to claims 1-8, characterized in that a texture-modifying agent is also included in the gel, selected from caseates, albumen, gelatin, starch derivatives, cellulose derivatives, caragenes and xanthan gums. Dehydrated edible product obtained in whole or in part by the method according to any one of claims 1-9. A rehydrated edible product prepared by rehydrating a dehydrated edible product according to claim 10 in hot water for up to 20 minutes. • W * Ψ 12. Dehydrated edible product and process for its preparation as described in the description. 9 * *> * ·. 9 # 0 * 7906747 *