GELLED FOOD PRODUCT AND METHOD FOR MAKING SAME

The present invention relates to a gelled food product and the method of manufacture of such a product.

Gelling Various techniques are known in the art including the use of the cross-linking properties of enzymes (transglutaminase), the application of heat treatment, the acidification (principle of manufacturing tofu) and the application of very high pressures. However, to obtain a firm gel and resilient, adapted to be shaped, in particular thin film wound in the form of sticks, but only the application of heat treatment can be contemplated. On this basis, many gelling agents should be excluded. This is the case in particular gelatin due to the character of its reversible gels, cellulose derivatives, because the gels that they form are not closed cold, agar because it will not allow flexible form gels, pectins because the medium is not enough acid to allow a gel, alginates because they require hardware implementation specific (salt bath in particular calcium), and that the results obtained on the strips are hardly scalable to other forms of products. The myofibrillar proteins (actin and myosin) contained in the surimi fish or meat satisfaction would result. However, prevents their cost today use on an industrial scale for the production of foodstuffs with low value added. On the other hand, it is hardly feasible design gelled milk products, fruit, vegetable, cereal or proteinaceous containing, in their formulation, a significant proportion of fish or meat proteins.

An object of the present invention is to provide a gelled food product by heat treatment which have the characteristics impart the appearance of an irreversible gel, firm, resilient, in a thin layer, properties similar to those obtained when using myofibrillar proteins as a gelling agent (case the rod of surimi for example).

To this end, the invention relates to a gelled food product, characterized in that it is present, before forming and conditioning, in the form of a flexible strip, to moisture content at least equal to 55%, formed of a free mixture of myofibrillar proteins and comprising at least one non-gellable hot main ingredient present in a concentration expressed as % by weight sec in said mixture at least equal to 20% and a gelling base comprising at least one gelling agent hot and a cold gelling agent previously gelled by heat treatment followed by cooling.

According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the strip has a thickness of between 0.5 and 5.0 mm and preferably between 1.0 and 3.0 mm.

The main ingredient comprises one or more component (s) (s) selected from the group consisting of vegetables, fruit, the milk of animal origin, the juice of plant origin, cereals, producing plants, and derivatives thereof.

The gelling agent is selected from the group of gelling formed by egg white, the isolates or concentrate of vegetable proteins, methyl, the milk proteins, and derivatives thereof, taken individually or in combination. The gelling agent allows rapid gelation hot and provides a firmness to the product.

The cold gelling agent is selected from the group of gelling formed by algal extracts, in particular carrageenans, gums, carob seed flour, and derivatives thereof, taken individually or in combination. The gelling agent provides the cohesion of the gel formed during cooling and provides a elasticity to said product.

The gelling base is present in said mixture or in the web at a concentration expressed as % by weight sec between 5.0 and 50.0%.

Preferably, the mixture further contains at least a starchy material preferably selected from the group formed by the cereal flours, starches or starches, modified starches, and derivatives thereof. The amylaceous materials are water-retaining and act on the viscosity of the mixture thus promoting the method of forming the band, in particular by extrusion.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the gelled product has a composition expressed as a percentage by weight sec in said mixture forming the tape, as follows:

main ingredient 20.0 to 75.0 %

hot gelling 1.0 to 40.0%

cold gelling 0.4 to 25.0 %

starchy material to 5.0 65.0%

0.0 to 50.0% other ingredients

It should be noted that the main ingredient may be introduced into the mixture either as a wet product, or as a product sec and of water to form a wet product in the mixture is mixed with the other ingredients of the mixture. Therefore, the concentration has been expressed above in percentage by weight sec or solids in the mixture.

Various presentations of such a product may be envisioned. Therefore, the food product may be, after forming and conditioning, in the form of sticks or plugged or spring rolls or samoussas or any equivalent product, formed by folding, rolling, fodder and cutting said band. It may also be made, after forming and conditioning, as pasta, such as tagliatelle, spaghetti, as ravioli or other legacy Form in the fields of pulp made with hard wheat semolina.

The invention also relates to a method for producing a gelled food product of the aforementioned type, characterized in that it consists in preparing a composition containing at least one non-gellable hot main ingredient present in a concentration expressed as % by weight sec in said composition at least equal to 20% and a gelling base comprising at least one gelling agent hot and cold a gelling agent, intimately mixing said composition so as to obtain a homogeneous mixture, and lump-free fluid, to form a strip by pushing the mixture obtained through an extrusion nozzle or by rolling, and subjecting the web to heating at a temperature preferably between 80 and 100 °C for a time preferably between 15 and 120 seconds followed by cooling to that gelling agents contained in the mixture gelled convert said composition by a firm gel and elastic.

The method includes, for carrying out the heat treatment, collecting the extruded web or to the surface of a heated rotary drum preferably by means of a vapor stream, or to the surface of a conveyor belt full preferably heated by using infrared rays or using a stream of hot air. The method includes, after heating the band on its support consisting of a rotating drum or a conveyor belt, depositing the strip undissolved from its support on a conveyor belt apertured whose moving speed is dependent on the velocity of movement of said support to avoid tension of the web during the cooling thereof.

Examples for making such a gelled food product will now be described.

A first embodiment of a gelled food product which, after shaping and conditioning, in the form of vegetable tagliatelle, is described below.

The fresh pasta products are easy to implement by the consumer since they simply require baking at boiling water for 1 to 5 minutes. Even if pastes vegetables exist today, their content of vegetables remains very low in comparison with the content of hard wheat semolina. Pastes vegetables, object of the invention, are directly reheatable with the pan or even at microwave oven while mainly consist of vegetables.

Another feature pastes, object of the invention, is their smoothness and their elastic gelled texture after baking, which gives them organoleptic qualities equivalent to those of traditional pasta made of hard wheat semolina. The vegetables having no such properties, the formulation thereof necessarily in use of gelling ingredients to produce a gel elastic vegetables contain up to 80%.

In order to obtain such pastes vegetables, is performed as follows: the vegetables are first subjected to a refining. To this end, the frozen vegetables in pieces are thawed and destructured with a cutter and/or of a refiner (such as STEPHAN) or the like, to reduce them in pureed. Refined The vegetables obtained are then mixed in a "high shear mixer" (for example cutter-type) with the other ingredients of the composition. Mixing vacuum rapidly obtaining a homogeneous mixed and avoids the incorporation of air in the mixed that would result in the formation of a gelled irregular.

The next step is to form a strip by pushing the mixed obtained through an extrusion nozzle. The mixture is driven by a pump and forced movement through the fine opening of the extrusion die. The mechanical stresses exerted on the material result in the formation of a regular web. The viscosity of the material is adapted to avoid the possibility of sagging or from clogging. The dimensions of the material web are generally 180 x 1,5 mm, but can be adapted to the intended product. Both that the pump is supplied, a strip of material is formed. The strip extruded falls directly on the surface of a rotatable cylinder through which a vapor stream. Steam is also projected to the surface of the cylinder, whereby a temperature rise of the material very fast. The temperatures are adjustable in dependence on the type of material used. The temperature of the barrel is generally between 90 and 95 °C. Also, the speed of rotation of the cylinder is adjustable between 1 and 4 rpm, which is equivalent to a contact time of the web with the cylinder between 20 and 50 seconds. Conversion to the drum is not a true firing the material. The aim is to induce gelation of the web sufficient to be able to then the work. The material web is peeled of the cylinder by a scraping system and is deposited on a conveyor belt. The pre-firing of the strip is thus followed by a cooling step. The strip is deposited on a conveyor belt made of metal mesh that allows air to circulate in contact with both sides of the web precooked. Dedicated to cooling The duration varies between 20 seconds and 1 minute 30 as a function of the speed of progression of the conveyor belt. It is important to ensure that it is close to the speed of rotation of the cylinder. Indeed, if the speed of the mat is too fast, the web is precooked voltages which may be originally torn. The formation of the three-dimensional network continues during this cooling phase (synergy between the action of the gelling hot and cold gelling agents). The strip of vegetables cooled then falls in a gelled scarificator dimensioned to enable a cutting tagliatelle. The tagliatelle are cut with a length of between 10 and 20 cm. The tagliatelle are then in and then the trays are lidded tray and then subjected to a pasteurization and cooling.

The basic formulation of the mixture for obtaining such tagliatelle vegetables core base can be expressed in percentage by weight, as follows:

refined core

potato starch

rapeseed oil

wheat flour

70,0 TO 80.0% 8.0 TO 11.0% 2.0 TO 5.0% 3.0 TO 6.0% in %

carrageenians

methylcellulose

egg white powder

salt

3.0 TO 5.0% 0.5 TO 1.0% 1.0 TO 1.8% 0.2 TO 0.5%

Therefore, pastes vegetables, in particular core, containing 70 to 80% of vegetables.

The method as described above can also be applied to the production of rods fruit. The basic formulation of the mixture for the making of such fruit sticks can be as follows, expressed as percentage by weight:

For a shaping-rod, gelled scarified the web is cooled on both sides by passing between two parallel rollers. This contributes to the product the fiber texture. The distance between the rollers being adjustable, it is possible to obtain different textures from the same band gelled. The formation of the rod then starts by curling of the web scarified. The diameter of the shaft is dependent on the width of the strip gelled but also a tilt angle at the initiation of the rolling. The rolled strip is then packaged in a plastic film and cut into sections of the desired length by a rotary cutter. If a stick ingredient

applesauce20parts mill and

water

modified potato starch

sugar

methylcellulose

egg albumen

strawberry flavor

xanthan gum

inulin

citric acid

in % 50,0 to 3.0% 10.0 to 70.0% 8.0 to 15.0% 2.0 to 18.0% 0.5 to 1.0% 3.0 to 8.0% 0.5 to 1.0% 1.5 to 2.5% 1.5 to 2.0% 0.1 to 0.3% two-color is desired, differently colored material (for example by blackcurrant) is co-extruded during placement of the web on the rotating cylinder prior to gelation or deposited directly onto the gelled film before the web is packaged. Pasteurization drives the adhesion of the colored material to the surface of the blade. Individually wrapped strips are then vacuum packed. Pasteurization is effected by steam oven and the strips are then rapidly cooled and stored at fresh.

One embodiment of a gelled product based on cows milk white cheese ravioli type red fruit will now be described. When the main ingredient comprises one or more components selected from milk products of animal origin, the raw materials are generally retained the following: white cheese, milk, yogurt. The gelling compounds are preferably made of a combination of hydroxy propyl methyl cellulose and carrageenians. A web have been gelled be obtained from the following formula expressed as percentage by weight:

The quark used has, prior to its being used, undergone a heat treatment step which denatures proteins thereof and limits their functional properties. The method used is similar to that described above except for the preparation of the finished product. The thermal heat treatment is carried out for about 50 seconds with a temperature of 95 °C for the surface of the cylinder and 92 °C for producing steam in the outer enclosure to the cylinder. After cooling, gelled the web is cut by a die in the form of small rectangles. Jam In the red fruit is then deposited on each rectangle cheese gel, which is then folded to form as ravioli. After pasteurization and complete cooling, the texture of the envelope as ravioli obtained is melt, gelled medium and slightly tacky. It blends well with the fodder from jam (bi-texture effect).

A last embodiment of a gelled food product in the form of a strip gelled soy used for making up spring rolls, above- clessous. In this case, the main ingredient is composed of different derivatives of soybean juice, and in particular retentate (from the ultra filtering the juice) and tonyu powder. A web have been gelled be obtained from the following formula expressed as percentage by weight:

The method described in the example above can also be applied to the manufacture of rolls of spring. In this case pieces larger, square or rectangular or round shapes cut in the web are gelled soy to replace the conventional rice cake. Gelled soy Each sheet is lined with a preparation for example, of starting soybeans, shrimp, grated core, pieces of ham, of aromatic plants and soy sauce. The sheet is then rolled around the liner to form a roll of ready-to-eat spring.