SE544146C2 - Dry powder composition for preparing a dairy-like product - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a dry powder composition for preparing a dairy-like product using water, said composition comprising:- a cereal component containing starch;- an enzymatic component selected from malt or another germinated grain or a combination of one or more of these;wherein the particle size of the cereal component and the enzymatic component, respectively, is less than 1.5 mm in diameter.

Description

DRY POWDER CONIPOSITION FOR PREPARING A DAlFtY-LIKE PRODUCT Technical field id="p-1"

[0001] The present invention relates generally to dry powder composition forproducing a dairy-like product, a method for producing a dairy-like product using saiddry powder composition, use of said dry-powder composition and a product obtained from said above mentioned method.

Background art[0002] There is an increased supply of plant-based dairy-like products as asupplement to milk, yoghurt, cream etc. These contains different kind of vegetable raw materials such as oat, almond, soy, coconut, rice etc. id="p-3"

[0003] The production of dairy like products usually consist of a number of differentunit operations. WO9507628A1 describes a process suspending oatmeal in water,centrifugation or decanting the suspension to remove coarse particles and thereafteraddition of different industrial enzymes followed by UHT treatment in order to obtaina sterile product while inactivating the enzymes added. id="p-4"

[0004] WO2014123466A1 describes a similar process to the mentioned above, butalso includes a process to recover the majority of the proteins in the raw material. id="p-5"

[0005] There are also several different techniques to produce plant-based dairy-like products at home or in large scale kitchens. These techniques result in granularstarch in the product and a very viscous product. lf the product is not being filteredthis results in a “porridge like” product. Due to the high viscosity together, largeparticle size distribution and high amount of suspended solids compared to dissolvedsolids the yield of plant-based dairy-like product per kg raw material is low resulting ina big amount of retentate from the filtration that needs to be used in another application, such as baking bread etc. id="p-6"

[0006] lt would be advantageous to provide a starting material enabling a simplerproduction process for the production of a vegetable-based dairy-like product, for instance enabling manufacturing in large scale kitchens.

Summary of invention[0007] An object of the present invention is to provide a dry powder compositionenabling a more effective manufacturing of a plant-based dairy-Iike product. id="p-8"

[0008] Another object of the invention is to reduce the cost structure of theproduced dairy-Iike product due to both lower capital- and operational expenses. id="p-9"

[0009] Another object of the invention is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissionsfor the produced dairy-Iike product due to less transports, and less energy in production process. id="p-10"

[0010] Another object of the invention is an improved work environment due to less handling of a dairy-Iike product consisting of primarily water. id="p-11"

[0011] ln one embodiment of the present invention, a dry powder composition forpreparing a dairy-Iike product using water is described, said composition comprising: - a cereal component containing starch; - an enzymatic component selected from malt or another germinated grain or acombination of one or more of these;wherein the particle size of the cereal component and the enzymatic component,respectively, is less than 1.5 mm in diameter. id="p-12"

[0012] By using a dry product mixture with a certain enzymatic activity from malt oranother germinated grain, a partial degradation of the starch granules in the cerealcomponent can be achieved in a subsequent liquefaction process. This can beachieved through the natural enzymes in the malt or germinated grain degrading thestarch in the cereal component. To enable this the particle size of the components inthe dry product mixture must be less than 1,5 mm in diameter in order for the starchgranules and enzymes to be removed from their cellular structure and be free in thesuspension. Furthermore, since the cereal component is already in an accessibleform to the enzymatic components due to its size, it is not required to pre-treat thecereal component before the enzymatic component is added, for instance wet millingor treating the starch component to a slurry in order to extract the starch, like in theprior art. This enables for a simpler and a more cost-effective production of a dairy-like product. For example, as the cereal component is already in an accessible formand already mixed together with the enzymatic component to a latent dry powder composition, it is possible to start the enzymatic degradation of the starch componentby only the addition of water and agitation at the right temperature. The step ofmixing the dry powder composition with water is called liquefaction. Consequently,the dry powder composition according to the present invention enables for a simplerproduction of a dairy-like product, thus decreasing capital and operating costs as thefinal step of producing a dairy-like product, i.e. the liquefaction, can be performed in asimpler environment not requiring expensive industrial equipment. This can for instance be performed in a large-scale kitchen. id="p-13"

[0013] ln the context of the present invention, malt refers to small grains such asbarley, oat, wheat and rye that has passed through a malting process which triggers the germination process in the grain resulting in increased enzymatic activity. id="p-14"

[0014] ln another embodiment, the particle size of the cereal component and theenzymatic component is less than about 500 um, preferably less than about 300 um,even more preferably less than about 200 um. ln one embodiment, the particle sizeof the cereal component and the enzymatic component is preferably from about 100to about 300 um. By using a smaller particle size, the breakdown of granular starch inthe liquefaction process will be quicker which can be seen in the ratio betweensuspended and dissolved components. Smaller particle size also enables a betteryield between suspended and dissolved components. id="p-15"

[0015] ln another embodiment, the composition comprises from about 75 to about99.9% (w/w) of the cereal component, preferably from about 85 to about 99.8%(w/w), more preferably from about 90 to about 995% (w/w) and even more preferablyfrom about 95 to about 99% (w/w) based on the total dry weight of the composition.The required composition is a result of the temperature, time and agitation in theprocess to produce the dairy-like product, but also the enzymatic activity of theenzymatic component in the dry powder composition. id="p-16"

[0016] ln another embodiment, the composition comprises from about 0.1 to about25% (w/w) of the enzymatic component, preferably from about 0.2 to about 15%(w/w), more preferably from about 0.5 to about 10% (w/w), even more preferably from about 1 to about 5% (w/w) based on the total dry weight of the composition. id="p-17"

[0017] ln another embodiment, the dry powder composition further comprises anadditive selected from at least one of a mineral, a spice such as a salt and/or asweetener, an acidity regulator, an antioxidant, calcium carbonate, tricalciumphosphate or any combination thereof. The additive is selected to improve theproperties of the final dairy-like product produced by the dry powder composition, for instance taste, appearance, or shelf life properties, among others. id="p-18"

[0018] ln another embodiment, the additive is present in the composition from about 0.01 to about 10% (w/w) based on the total dry weight of the composition. id="p-19"

[0019] ln another embodiment, the cereal component is selected from at least oneof corn, rice or small grain, such as wheat, oat, barley or rye, or any combinationthereof. id="p-20"

[0020] ln another embodiment, the cereal is wholemeal flour or whitemeal flour, ora combination thereof. A wholemeal flour results in a dairy-like product with higher fibre and mineral composition due to higher concentrations in the outer layers of thegrain kernel. A wholemeal flour also results in a darker colour and higher viscosity of the dairy-like product. id="p-21"

[0021] ln another embodiment, the enzymatic component has an enzymatic activityof from about 0.1 to about 200 alpha-amylase dextrinizing units (DU) per kg on a dry-matter basis. The required enzymatic activity in the dry-powder is set in order todegrade the granular starch to the specific target for the produced dairy-like product.The degradation of starch is measured using the ratio between suspended anddissolved solids since granular starch is suspended particles and when a starchmolecule has passed through the liquefaction process and been degraded byenzymes a dissolved dextrin or oligosaccharide is being formed. The requiredenzymatic activity is a result of the design of the liquefaction process being usedduring production of the dairy-like product. The enzymatic activity can be expressedas alpha-amylase dextrinizing units (DU) per kg on a dry-matter basis. This gives ameasurement of how many dextrin units that is produced per kg using a definedmethod with specified time and temperature. One oi-amylase dextrinizing unit isdefined as the quantity of oi-amylase that will dextrinize soluble starch in thepresence of an excess of ß-amylase at the rate of 1 g/h at 30°C. The degree of hydrolysis is determined by comparing the iodine colour of the hydrolysate with thatof the standard. id="p-22"

[0022] ln another embodiment, the enzymatic component has a preferedenzymatic activity from about 10 to about 90 alpha-amylase dextrinizing units (DU)per kg on a dry-matter basis, more preferably from about 10 to about 60 alpha-amylase dextrinizing units (DU) per kg on a dry-matter basis, even more preferablyfrom about 30 to about 50 alpha-amylase dextrinizing units (DU) per kg on a dry- matter basis. id="p-23"

[0023] ln a second general aspect of the invention, the present invention relates toa method for preparing a liquid dairy-like product comprising the steps of: - mixing a composition according to any one of one of the previous em bodimentswith water and optionally a fat; - heating the mixture to a temperature between 30 - 100 °C; - mixing the mixture until at least 50% of the starch in the cereal component hasdissolved in the mixture due to enzymatic treatment by the enzymatic component. lnone embodiment, the amount of starch in the cereal component dissolved in themixture due to the enzymatic activity is at least 60%, more preferably at least 70%,more preferably at least 80%, more preferably at least 90% and even morepreferably at least 95%. The method may further comprise a filtration step in order to remove any excess solids in the dairy-like product. id="p-24"

[0024] The temperature can be adjusted to optimize the enzymatic degradation ofthe starch components present in the cereals. For instance, an increasedtemperature increases the enzymatic activity, but too high temperature causes the enzymes to denature and thereby loss of functionality. id="p-25"

[0025] The overall time of the liquefaction process is selected for the enzymes todegrade the granular starch to a predefined value of dissolvement. The liquefactiontime can vary between a number of minutes to a few hours depending on the enzymatic activity and conditions during the liquefaction. id="p-26"

[0026] ln order for the enzymes do degrade the granular starch they must get inphysical contact (on a molecular level) to the granular starch. This is done through asufficient agitation or mixing in the liquefaction process. id="p-27"

[0027] The, method for preparing a liquid dairy-like product might further comprisea filtration step in order to remove any remaining solid particles after the Iiquefaction process. id="p-28"

[0028] A higher enzymatic activity during the Iiquefaction process results in ahigher degree of dextrinization and shorter polysaccharides or oligosaccharides areformed which results in higher sweetness in the produced plant-based dairy-likeproduct. id="p-29"

[0029] ln the prior art, see WO2014123466A1 and WO9507628A1, the process ofdegrading granular starch is measured through viscosity. ln this invention thecorrelation between suspended and dissolved solids are measured. Since viscosity isbeing decreased when granular (suspended starch) is degraded to dissolved dextrins these two methods are comparable. id="p-30"

[0030] ln a third general aspect of the invention, the present invention relates to ause of the dry powder composition according to any one of the previousembodiments to produce a dairy-like product using water. id="p-31"

[0031] ln a fourth general aspect of the invention, the present invention relates to adairy-like product comprising the dry-powder composition according the any of theprevious embodiments, water and optionally a fat.

Brief description of drawinos id="p-32"

[0032] The invention is now described, by way of examples, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: id="p-33"

[0033] Fig 1, 2 and 3 shows the appearance of the dairy-like product during the Iiquefaction process Description of embodiments id="p-34"

[0034] ln the following, a detailed description of the present invention is provided. id="p-35"

[0035] Definitions: For purposes of this invention, the terms and expressions below, appearing in thespecification and claims, are intended to have the following meanings.

“Enzymatic activity” - The enzymatic activity in malt is expressed as alpha-amylasedextrinizing units (DU) per kg on a dry-matter basis. This gives a measurement ofhow many dextrin units that is produced per kg using a defined method with specifiedtime and temperature. One oi-amylase dextrinizing unit is defined as the quantity of oi-amylase that will dextrinize soluble starch in the presence of an excess of ß-amylaseat the rate of 1 g/h at 30 °C. The degree of hydrolysis is determined by comparing theiodine colour of the hydrolysate with that of the standard.

“Liquefaction” - The process were the suspension is heated to or above thegelatinization temperature in presence of enzymatic activity in order to degrade thegranular starch to dissolved dextrins. id="p-36"

[0036] l\/laterial and methods: Cereal component: Oat flour, grinded whole grain oat flour. Supplier Risenta.Enzymatic component: Enzymatic malt from barley in whole kernels. SupplierWeyermann. Grinded to particle size below 300 microns using a roller mill.Calcium carbonate: Supplier Vinoferm Sodium Chloride: Supplier Falksalt Viscosity: l\/leasured using a HAAKETN' Viscotester from Thermo Fisher id="p-37"

[0037] Example 1 : Production of dairy-like product using a dry powdercomposition. The dry powder composition contained 820 gram oat flour, 40 grammalt and 30 gram Calcium Carbonate and 5 gram Sodium Chloride. The dry powderwas mixed in 9 000 gram water using a cooker with sufficient agitation. A well-mixedsuspension was achieved when the temperature had reached 40 °C. The time when40 °C was reached is denoted as t0. At this time, a first sample of 100g was taken,denoted sample S1. The temperature was after this gradually increased, and asecond 100g sample, denoted sample S2, was collected when the temperature hadreached 60 °C, which is the liquefaction temperature of oat. This was achieved after5 minutes. A third 100g sample was collected when the temperature had reached 67°C, which was achieved after 10 min. The temperature was kept constant at 67°C.Three additional samples, 100g each, denoted samples S4, S5 and S6, wherecollected after 15, 25 and 50 min respectively. The dry solids content in each sample was analysed. 40 ml of each sample was centrifuged in 5 minutes at 4800 rpm. Theliquid phase after centrifugation was analysed for dry solids and the ratio betweentotal solids in the sample and solids in the liquid phase was calculated. The resultsfor each sample are presented in Table 1.

Sample (S) Temperature (T) Time (t) % of DS in liquid Viscosity S1 40 0 20.7°/> 7 S2 60 5 61 .3°/> 60S3 67 10 685% 84S4 67 15 64.3°/> 90S5 67 25 71 .2°/> 111S6 67 50 722% 56 id="p-38"

[0038] The results of the liquefaction can be seen in figure 1, 2, 3 and 4. Figure 1shows the results after the centrifugation where the suspended solids are located inthe bottom. For the starting sample at 40 degrees you see a specific white band ofsolids above the fibre particle, which is the granular starch. This white banddecreases in size while the liquefaction continues which can be seen in figure 1, 2and 3. The viscosity at t0 is low since the majority of the dry substance aresuspended. While the temperature is increased to and above the gelatinisationtemperature the starch molecules absorb water and dissolve which increases thetemperature. The viscosity is thereafter reduced when the enzymes are degradingthe starch to soluble dextrins. This can be seen in figure 4. id="p-39"

[0039] The process to produce plant-based diary-like product in present invention is divided into three unit-operations: 1. Dry powder mixture formulation2. Liquefaction3. Dairy-like product comprising the dry powder composition id="p-40"

[0040]The dry powder mixture contains the following components: 1 _ Cereal component containing starch: from different kind of small grainssuch as oat, wheat, barley, rye or corn, rice etc. Preferably, the grain is oatdue to its desirable taste properties. However, desirable taste properties mayalso be achieved by mixing a specific amount of different cereals. These canbe wholemeal flour with lower amount of starch and higher amount of fibre, orwhitemeal flour with higher amount of starch and lower fibre content. Starchraw materials are symbolized with a starch concentration of minimum 50 °/> ofthe total amount of dry substance. Besides starch the starch raw materialsalso contain proteins, fat, soluble and non-soluble fibres.

Malt or another germinated grain with high enzymatic activity fromdifferent kind of small grains such as barley, oat, wheat etc. Malt is primaryused in the brewing industry and there is a high number of different maltsavailable on the market which have different impact on the final taste andcharacteristic of the produced beer. Besides different raw materials to producethe malt the taste, characteristics and enzymatic activity of the malt is a resultof the production process of the malt. ln the brewing process the enzymes inmalt, which primary consist of alpha amylases degrade the granular starch tosoluble dextrins.

The enzymatic activity in malt is expressed as alpha-amylase dextrinizingunits (DU) per kg on a dry-matter basis. This gives a measurement of howmany dextrin units that is produced per kg using a defined method withspecified time and temperature. One oi-amylase dextrinizing unit is defined asthe quantity of oi-amylase that will dextrinize soluble starch in the presence ofan excess of ß-amylase at the rate of 1 g/h at 30°C. The degree of hydrolysisis determined by comparing the iodine colour of the hydrolysate with that ofthe standard. Malt has normally a span of DU between 10 - 100.

Optionally other ingredients such as additives, minerals, nutrients andspices. The addition of this can affect the enzymatic activity due to a change inpH and ion concentrations but also the taste and smell of the producedproduct. Additives can for example be acidity regulators, antioxidants, foam stabilizers, viscosity enhancers, emulsifiers etc. id="p-41"

[0041]The product mixture can vary a lot in composition depending on which kind ofproduct that shall be produced and the application of the dairy-like product. Theproduct composition is also being affected on the intended subsequentliquefaction process, such as temperature, time, pH, dry substance in thesuspension and agitation during the liquefaction (production of the dairy-likeproduct). For instance, a higher dry solid content and higher fibre content resultsin higher viscosity of the suspension. Higher viscosity makes it more difficult for the enzymes to get in physical contact with the granular starch id="p-42"

[0042]The particle size of the components in the dry product mixture must be lessthan 1,5 mm in diameter to assure the functionality of the natural occurringenzymes in the malt and the accessibility of the granular starch in the starch rawmaterials. lf the particle size is insufficient a grinding step needs to be added priorto the below formulation. The dry product mixture is mixed in an appropriateequipment to achieve a homogenous mixture. Time and agitation in this unit operation is depending on the type of equipment, batch size etc. id="p-43"

[0043] Liquefaction: ln liquefaction dry product mixture is mixed with water to reach a certain amountof dry solids in the suspension. The amount of dry solids in the dairy-like productis in one embodiment about 10 °/-.~ depending on raw material composition,enzymatic activity, application of the produced dairy-like product etc. A higheramount of dry solids results in a product with higher viscosity which for someapplications can feel “to thick” while to low amounts of dry solids can give awatery feeling on the dairy-like product. Temperature is set by the addition of hot water of or by heating the mixture. id="p-44"

[0044]The liquefaction process can optionally be aborted by additional heating of theproduct in order for the enzymes to denaturate, which also can give apasteurizing effect depending on the temperature, or by cooling which slowsdown and finally stop the functionality of the enzymes. This step is preferablyperformed before filtration of any remaining solids. However, it is also possible to perform the liquefaction abortion after a filtration step. id="p-45"

[0045]The taste and characteristics of the plant-based dairy-like product is affectedby: o The composition in the dry product mixture o The Iiquefaction temperature profile and time for this o The agitation during the Iiquefaction o The cooling time and temperature profile during cooling o The addition of additional ingredients id="p-46"

[0046] Dairy-like product comprising the dry powder composition: After Iiquefaction of the dry powder composition of according to the previousembodiments, additional ingredients, oil, spices, water etc. can be addeddepending on which plant-based dairy-like product that shall be produced. Afiltration or separation step can also be added to remove larger particles from theproduct. This can be achieved both in the product formulation or in theIiquefaction and cooling step. Examples of dairy-like products that can beproduced using the described invention are milk, cream, crème fraiche, icecream, yoghurt etc.

Claims (11)

1. A dry powder composition for preparing a dairy-like product using water,said composition comprising:- a cereal component containing starch;- an enzymatic component selected from malt or another germinated grain or a combination of one or more of these; wherein the particle size of the cereal component and the enzymaticcomponent, respectively, is less than 1.5 mm in diameter, wherein the enzymatic component has an enzymatic activity of from about0.1 to about 100 alpha-amylase dextrinizing units (DU) per kg of total mixedration (TIVIR) on a dry-matter basis, preferably from about 10 to about 90alpha-amylase dextrinizing units (DU) per kg of total mixed ration (TIVIR) ona dry-matter basis, more preferably from about 10 to about 60 alpha-amylase dextrinizing units (DU) per kg of total mixed ration (TIVIR) on a dry-matter basis, even more preferably from about 30 to about 50 alpha-amylase dextrinizing units (DU) per kg of total mixed ration (TlVlFi) on a dry-matter basis.

2. Composition according to claim 1, wherein the particle size of the cereal component and the enzymatic component is less than about 500 um,preferably less than about 300 um, even more preferably less than about200 um.

3. Composition according to any one of the previous claims, wherein thecomposition comprises from about 75 to about 99.9% (w/w) of the cerealcomponent, preferably from about 85 to about 99.9% (w/w), morepreferably from about 90 to about 99.9% (w/w) and most preferably fromabout 95 to about 99.9% (w/w) based on the total dry weight of the composition.

4. Composition according to any one of the previous claims, wherein thecomposition comprises from about 0.1 to about 25% (w/w) of the enzymaticcomponent, more preferably from about 0.2 to about 15% (w/w), more preferably from about 0.5 to about 10% (w/w), even more preferably from about 1 to about 5% (w/w) based on the total dry weight of the composition.

5. Composition according to any one of the previous claims, wherein the dry powder composition further comprises an additive selected from at leastone of a mineral, a spice such as a salt and/or a sweetener, an acidityregulator, an antioxidant, calciumcarbonate, tricalcium phosphate_or anycombination thereof.

6. Composition according to claim 5, wherein the additive is present in the composition from about 0.01 to about 10% (w/w) based on the total dryweight of the composition.

7. Composition according any one of the previous claims, wherein the cereal component is selected from at least one of corn, rice or small grains, such as wheat, oat, barley or rye, or any combination thereof.

8. Composition according to any one of the previous claims, wherein the cereal is wholemeal flour or whitemeal flour, or a combination thereof.

9. l\/lethod for preparing a liquid dairy-like product comprising the steps of: - mixing a composition according to any one of claims 1 - 8 with waterand optionally a fat; - heating the resulting mixture to a temperature between 30 - 100 °C; - mixing the mixture until at least 50%, preferably at least 60%, even morepreferably at least 90% of the cereal component has dissolved in the mixture due to enzymatic treatment by the enzymatic component.

10. Use of a dry powder composition according to any one of claims 1 - 8 toproduce a dairy-like product using water.

11.A dairy-like product comprising a dry powder composition according to anyone of claims 1 - 8, water and optionally a fat.