Classifications

• • A—HUMAN NECESSITIES
  • A21—BAKING; EDIBLE DOUGHS
  • A21D—TREATMENT OF FLOUR OR DOUGH FOR BAKING, e.g. BY ADDITION OF MATERIALS; BAKING; BAKERY PRODUCTS
  • A21D13/00—Finished or partly finished bakery products
  • A21D13/50—Solidified foamed products, e.g. meringues

Definitions

• the invention relates to the field of commercial manufacture of confectionery.
• the invention relates to the manufacture of a confectionery meringue which is, suitable for continuous, as opposed to batch wise, manufacture.
• variety can be provided by offering different textures, even within a range of otherwise similar products. For example, manufacturers have offered 'ice-cream' versions of popular confectionery pieces.
• confectionery material which has a 'light' or less dense texture is meringue. This is typically made from egg white protein and sugar whipped together in the presence of water, the whipped mixture then being baked or dried to remove the moisture. This form of preparation has exclusively been performed in a strictly batch-wise manner, as this type of formulation tends to be poorly suited to continuous production.
• the aerated mixture tends to be physically delicate, requiring that it be placed on a solid surface for drying, which slows the effective drying rate. Since the aerated meringue mixture tends to be relatively slow to dry in any case due to its aerated structure, and since elevated drying temperatures tend to have a deleterious effect on the sugar and protein in the mixture, this demands that the residence time in a continuously operating oven become prohibitively long, e.g. in excess of one hour, for commercial production. This in turn greatly reduces the ability of the commercial confectionery manufacturer to utilise this otherwise useful material in meeting the objective of providing a lighter texture candy bar, as such bars are predominately manufactured in a long, continuous run production environment.
• a dried confectionery meringue formed from a meringue mixture having a pre-drying moisture level of between about 18% and about 30%, said mixture including a protein foaming agent, preferably egg white protein, sucrose and a source of monosaccharides.
• a protein foaming agent preferably egg white protein
• sucrose preferably egg white protein
• a source of monosaccharides preferably egg white protein
• the sucrose is icing sugar.
• 'meringue' is meant a confectionery which is characterised by its light, 'brittle' or 'crunchy' texture, provided by an aerated matrix of sucrose and protein (usually egg white protein) formed in a substantially aqueous state and then dried.
• the major advantage of the inventive meringue is that it can effectively be extruded and dried in a continuous manner.
• the moisture level in the meringue mixture is lower than that of typical meringue mixtures, which facilitates broadly continuous manufacture, as opposed to discrete batchwise manufacture, of the meringue product in a manner which is substantially more difficult to achieve with typical higher moisture level formulations known in the prior art.
• the inventors have devised a meringue mixture which can achieve the requisite drying performance, but in which the solids can nevertheless be sufficiently suspended and/or hydrated.
• sucrose or similar sugar having a finer particle size than caster sugar (also known as baker's sugar).
• the sucrose should have the following sieve analysis or finer: 10.0% maximum retained on a 106 micron sieve; 50.0% maximum retained on a 212 micron sieve.
• the sieve analysis is: 4.0% maximum retained on a 212 micron sieve; 35.0% maximum retained on a 106 micron sieve.
• the sieve analysis should be: 2.0% maximum retained on a 212 micron sieve; 26.0% maximum retained on a 106 micron sieve.
• sucrose in the meringue allows a smoother texture to be achieved at the lower moisture level required by the invention, as the sugar can be sufficiently hydrated at a rate which allows continuous production of meringue. If these solids are not suspended effectively, the meringue mixture will not be sufficiently flowable to be processed in the required manner, and the final mouthfeel of the meringue will be gritty, due to the presence of crystalline sugar particles in the meringue matrix. These particles tend to cause the abovementioned undesirable 'grainy' mouth-feel as well as a 'spotty' surface appearance.
• said sucrose is included in said meringue mixture in a concentration of 45% to 65% by mass (wet basis), preferably about 56%.
• the source of monosaccharides may be selected from a wide variety of monosaccharides well known to the skilled person, including but not limited to malt extract liquid, com syrup, glucose syrup, invert sugar, honey or similar material, or any suitable combination thereof.
• the mixture further includes cocoa powder.
• cocoa powder The inherent bitterness of the cocoa powder significantly dulls the sweetness of the meringue, which can be overly sweet due to relatively high levels of sucrose.
• a dried confectionery meringue formed from a meringue mixture including: between about 45% to 65% sucrose; between about 1 % to 20% of at least one monosaccharide; between about 3% and 15% egg white protein; and a pre-drying moisture level of between about 18% and about 30%.
• a dried confectionery meringue formed from a meringue mixture including: between about 50% to 60% sucrose; between about
• a method of continuously manufacturing a dried confectionery meringue including the steps of: > combining and mixing a protein foaming agent, preferably egg white or egg white powder, sucrose, preferably icing sugar, at least one monosaccharide, and optionally cocoa powder and salt, with sufficient water to form a mixture having a moisture content of between about 18% and about 30% by mass; aerating the mixture to a density of between about 0.20 and 0.40 kg/litre; extruding the aerated mixture onto a conveyor which allows air to circulate through said conveyor, for example a wire mesh belt; continuously drying the extruded mixture, by passing said belt through an oven, to a total moisture level of between about 0.5% and 2% by mass.
• a protein foaming agent preferably egg white or egg white powder, sucrose, preferably icing sugar, at least one monosaccharide, and optionally cocoa powder and salt
• this basic meringue formulation is a key to the ability of the invention to provide a continuously manufacturable meringue, since the ability of the hot air in the oven to circulate entirely around the extruded mixture is crucial in being able to remove sufficient moisture from the mixture at a rate which allows the product to be dried in a reasonable residence time in the oven.
• the meringue mixture may be wire cut to shape prior to entering the oven. This is a technique which may allow a variety of shapes and sizes of the meringue to be manufactured and which has not been hitherto available to manufacturers of meringue products at commercially feasible production rates.
• One highly desirable extrusion profile which is enabled by the invention is where the mixture is extruded to form a cross section with internal voids, for example a hollow tube.
• the invention enables crimping or forming of the dried meringue immediately post-oven to produce a series of friable meringue pieces, or alternatively passing the meringue through a pip roller to produce discrete meringue pieces.
• an item of confectionery including an enrobed core, said core including at least one layer of a dried confectionery meringue according to that described above.
• the meringue provides a lighter texture for the confectionery item as a whole, due to its relatively low density and characteristic texture.
• a dried confectionery meringue as described above, when substituted for a more dense component in a commercial confectionery product, said confectionery product manufactured in a continuous process, to provide a less dense texture to the confectionery product as a whole.
• Figure 1 shows a flowchart of a preferred process for producing a candy bar including a meringue material according to the invention.
• Figure 2 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of the candy bar produced by the process shown in figure 1.
• Figure 3 shows a view of the meringue material for inclusion in the candy bar of figure 2 being extruded.
• Figure 4 is an orthogonal view of the tubular extruded meringue according to the invention.
• Figure 5 shows a schematic view of a nozzle for producing the tubular meringue of figure 4.
• the invention provides a formulation for a confectionery meringue which is suitable for continuous production, in particular continuous extrusion in desired shapes onto a wire mesh belt followed by continuous passage through a drying oven.
• the formulation is provided having a formulated moisture level of between about 18% and about 30% by mass; including sucrose having a particle size distribution similar to that of icing sugar, and further including a source of monosaccharides.
• meringues typically have a formulated moisture content of about 40% by mass.
• the reduced moisture content provided by the invention modifies this rheology to the extent that baking/drying on, for example, a wire mesh belt is feasible.
• meringue formulations use coarser grades of sucrose, such as caster or standard sugar.
• the finer grade 'icing sugar' is used in the invention because the finer grade tends to melt/dissolve faster. This contributes greatly in allowing the meringue to be manufactures feasibly at commercial rates.
• coarser grades of sugar do not "melt-out” in time and tend to produce a 'spotty' and/or gritty meringue.
• One or more monosaccharides, such as malt extract syrup, are provided in the inventive formulation, as it has been found that the presence of a sufficient level of monosaccharides seems to prevent the meringue mass becoming too "crystalline".
• Monosaccharide sugars tend to make the meringue mass more flexible or less brittle, and seem to give the meringue mass a smoother appearance after drying. The absence of this component tends to result in a product that is typically cracked and/or broken, and which may dry unevenly.
• the other main components of the meringue mixture are egg white protein, which provides the structural protein to maintain the aerated structure, and water.
• An optional component is cocoa, whose natural bitterness tends to dull the overt sweetness of the relatively high concentration of sucrose, as well as providing a pleasant 'chocolate' brown colour.
• the meringue is formed according to the process broadly illustrated in figure 1.
• the ingredients are combined and mixed, typically in mixing equipment well known to those in the art, which may be jacketed to cool the mixture to around 10°C, which assists in the aeration stage.
• This mixture is then fed in to an aerator which effectively 'whips' air into the mixture to produce a relatively stable foam which can be extruded (simply pumped through a nozzle) while retaining the shape of the nozzle profile.
• many different meringue profiles may be provided by different nozzle profiles, optionally in conjunction with other forming techniques well known to the skilled person, such as wire cutting.
• the mixture is extruded as a rope on to a moving conveyor which is relatively air permeable, such as a wire mesh belt, thereby to allow air in the subsequent drying step to circulate fully around the product thereby to encourage even and efficient removal of moisture from the mixture.
• a moving conveyor which is relatively air permeable, such as a wire mesh belt, thereby to allow air in the subsequent drying step to circulate fully around the product thereby to encourage even and efficient removal of moisture from the mixture.
• Drying is effected in an oven or dryer hood which is arranged to receive the moving belt and which can provide heating means, preferably to heat distinct zones of the oven, sufficient to reach temperatures of up to 160°.
• the mixture is dred to a moisture content of around 0.5% to 2.0% total moisture, as measured, for example, by NIR spectroscopy.
• the meringue rope Once the meringue rope emerges from the oven, it may be cut to size and is then taken for further processing well known to the skilled person such as chocolate enrobing.
• Example 1 Candy Bar with Lighter Texture
• confectionery bar which was designed to provide a 'lighter' texture variant for a confectionery bar based on a chocolate-enrobed core.
• Such confectionery bars are well known in the art. Prominent examples include the confectionery bars marketed under the brands MARS® and TWIX® by Effem Foods Pty Ltd, 53 Kelly St, Wodonga, Victoria 3690, Australia.
• the confectionery as shown in Figure 2 features a core 10 consisting of an upper caramel layer 20, a lower meringue layer according to the invention 30, which has been prepared in accordance with the process shown in figure 1 , and an intervening barrier fat layer 40, of a kind well known in the art, said fat layer intended to avoid moisture migration between the aforesaid caramel and meringue layers.
• the core 10 is enrobed in chocolate 50. It should be noted that the relative proportions of the meringue, caramel, barrier fat and chocolate are purely for illustration, and many other relative proportions of each may be selected by the skilled person.
• the lighter texture is achieved by the substitution of the lower nougat layer of the MARS® bar with a layer of the inventive meringue.
• composition of the meringue is given in Table 1 below.
• the meringue as it appeared in the completed bar, may appear similar to a prior art meringue material, having a moisture level of about 0.5% to 2%.
• the inventive meringue contains two main differences to the typical prior art meringue material:
• the meringue was formed from a low moisture meringue mixture, i.e. , . . having a pre-drying moisture content of about 18 - 30%;
• sucrose in the meringue was supplied at a substantially lower particle size than for typical prior art meringue products.
• the sucrose was supplied to the formulation at the following particle size distribution: 2.0% maximum retained on a 212 micron sieve; 26.0% maximum retained on a 106 micron sieve.
• This is familiarly known in the art as 'icing sugar' and is substantially finer than caster sugar or other grades of sucrose typically used in meringue manufacture.
• the role of the lower particle size was to ensure that the texture of the meringue remained smooth, in spite of the lower moisture levels in the formulation. If a larger sucrose particle size was used (e.g. 'caster sugar' as it is known in the art), the crystals would tend to not fully dissolve in the mixture due to less available water, and due to the potentially lower hydration time necessitated by manufacture at higher rates. This failure to dissolve would result in the meringue having an undesirable 'gritty' texture.
• Egg white protein powder is a white to cream coloured powder prepared by spray drying fresh, liquid chicken egg whites after the removal of the reducing sugars. The powder is then pasteurized. In this formulation, its role is to provide structure to the sucrose mixture in aeration, by entraining the air.
• Egg albumen protein formed a substantial proportion of the egg white protein powder, and provided significant foaming properties to the egg white protein overall.
• Liquid malt extract was prepared by macerating coarsely powdered barley malt with water at a temperature not exceeding 75°C, straining and evaporating the resulting liquid in a vacuum pan until the liquid is of the consistency of thick honey.
• the grist comprised a high proportion of malted barley as a constituent of the mash in order to produce a malt extract with a medium amber colour.
• the role was to provide aesthetic colour and flavour to the meringue, as well as to facilitate processing, prevent case-hardening in the oven, and produce a consistent, smooth meringue with sufficient flexibility post- drying to cope with further processing without shattering or cracking.
• the cocoa powder described in this specification was manufactured from pressed cocoa cake, which may be lightly alkalised to achieve the desired colour.
• its role was also to provide aesthetic colour and flavour to the meringue, in particular to temper the high level of sweetness provided by the sucrose.
• the meringue mixture was prepared first by combining the dry ingredients, as shown in table 2, with sufficient water for the mixture to have a moisture content of 23% to 25% (target 24%) in a jacketed mixing tank. Table 2.
• the temperature of the meringue mix in the mixing tank was controlled to
• the raw meringue mixing tank provided gentle intermittent stirring to prevent settling and minimising premature aeration.
• the raw meringue was then pumped from the usage tank to a Mondomix aerator (Model VS15; supplied by Haas-Mondomix BV, of Damsluisweg 41 , Almere, The Netherlands).
• the aerator operated at a pressure of between 0-7 Bar. Meringue mix temperature was controlled to between 10 and 20°C. The cold water jacketing temperature of the aerator was set between 7-12 0 C.
• Raw meringue was pumped to the aerator, where it was introduced into the aerator in conjunction with compressed air: the two are combined by the action of the aerator.
• a back-pressure valve held the product in the aeration chamber for the appropriate amount of time and in doing so controlled the level of aeration.
• the aeration was designed to produce a relatively stiff aerated meringue mix having a target density of 0.38kg/litre.
• the aerated meringue mass was pumped directly to a feed hopper for the extruder.
• the extrusion hopper is preferably "wedge shaped" in order to direct the meringue mass onto the extrusion gears.
• the design of the extruder was such that geared sprockets "picked up” and direct the meringue mass down through slots in a nozzle plate.
• the meringue passed out of the slots & fell directly as long ropes onto a moving wire mesh belt.
• Total individual nozzle area is 95.2 mm 2 and total overall nozzle area was 1 ,809mm 2 .
• Figure 3 illustrates the extrusion process in action.
• the extrusion nozzles 50 were arranged above a moving wire mesh conveyor belt 55.
• the extruded aerated meringue 60 fell onto the belt 55 whilst retaining its rectangular profile.
• the belt 55 moved away from the nozzles 50 the aerated meringue 60 was formed into long ropes of consistent cross-sectional dimensions.
• the total moisture level of the raw meringue was targeted to be in the range 0.5% to 2%. This was achieved by passing the wire mesh belt through a four-zone direct gas-fired oven. The belt speed was set at about 1.5m/minute and the set point temperatures of the four zones are given in Table 3 below.
• the line speed of the oven typically can range between 1.0m - 3.0m minute, depending on the required baking/drying conditions. It is not essential to the working of the invention that the oven has precisely four temperature zones. The skilled person will be able to configure the temperature profile of ovens having differing numbers of temperature zones to produced the desired result.
• the oven belt is a highly air-permeable material.
• a solid belt for example, does not allow for even migration of the moisture from the meringue into the heated air.
• the oven was 13m long & the residence time inside the oven, at a belt speed of 1.5m/minute was 8.5 minutes! Each zone was approximately 3.25m long. Setting the successive zone temperatures so that the meringue experienced a gradual rise in temperature as it passed through the oven allowed for moisture loss to occur without case hardening at the product surface. A lower final zone temperature allowed for the extruded mass to cool slightly before exiting the oven.
• This further processing included techniques well known in the art, including the application of the fat barrier layer to the top of the meringue; applying a layer of another confectionery material (in this case caramel) above the barrier layer and cutting the bar to length and enrobing in chocolate.
• a layer of another confectionery material in this case caramel
• the rheology of the inventive meringue formulation is anticipated to allow the extrusion of a variety of different shape profiles, including for example those with internal voids or hollow features.
• the internal void may be left open, or alternatively filled with another confectionery component such as chocolate cream.
• a tubular meringue was continuously produced, which provided a novel and unique candy bar format.
• the composition of the meringue is given in Table 4 below.
• the meringue was prepared by similar process steps as per that of Example 1.
• the density of the meringue mixture was targeted at 0.20 - 0.30 kg/litre.
• the meringue mixture was extruded through a nozzle having a circular profile, with a cone-shaped insert placed at the centre of the nozzle, providing an annular orifice of outer diameter of 17mm and inner diameter of 12mm.
• Figure 5 illustrates the type of extrusion nozzle which was employed to produce the tubular extrusion of figure 4.
• the nozzle 200 consisted of an outer tubular wall 210, inside which is located, by support arms 220, a cone- like baffle 250 which was arranged to have its apex directed toward the meringue mix as it was extruded.
• the meringue was forced around the baffle 250 and emerged as a tube from the annular orifice 240 created by the positioning of the baffle 250 inside the tubular wall 210.
• the meringue was extruded onto a moving wire mesh belt as described above in example 1.
• the tube of extruded meringue was dried in a four-zone direct gas fired oven, at an oven residence time of about 12.3 minutes, to a target moisture level of about 1.5%.
• the set point temperatures of the four zones are given in Table 5 below.
• Figure 4 illustrates the tubular meringue produced as described above. It has an annular cross section 100, with an inner tubular void 110 which extends throughout the extrusion. This may undergo further processing as per Example 1 , and also affords the opportunity to fill the internal void thereby produced with another suitable confectionery material, such as chocolate cream. It will be clear to those skilled in the art that other alternative processes and nozzles may be employed to produce different sizes, shapes and arrangements of voids.
• a further alternative process step enabled by the inventive product and process is to wire cut the meringue to particular sizes or novelty shapes before drying. This may require a slightly more aerated meringue: a pre-oven density of about 0.30kg/litre. However the shape stability afforded by the invention makes this step possible, in spite of the relatively higher production rates targeted.
• Depositing the meringue as individual pieces on to the belt before entering the drying oven may also be contemplated.
• Another alternative extrusion profile would be to produce a relatively wide, flat sheet of meringue.
• process steps pre- or post-oven include the crimping or part-scoring of the meringue, to enable easy break-up of the pieces by the consumer; or processing ropes or sheets via a 'pip-roller' to produce individual pieces.

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