Patent Application
20090311385
The present invention relates to an edible food product wherein predetermined shapes are arranged in a predetermined pattern and substantially extend throughout the entirety of the product.
Considering the large quantities of candy consumed throughout the world, there is always a strong market pull for new, different, and unusual candies. Hard or soft candies are of course ubiquitous. It is well known in general to make hard or soft candies which are of a single uniform color, or which exhibit two or more colors in various patterns.
Hard or soft candies can be produced through a variety of recipes. Commonly, they are supersaturated aqueous sugar solutions, sugar alcohol solutions, or a mixture thereof and can exhibit characteristics of an amorphous solid. The moisture content of traditional hard candies is generally in the range of from about ½% to 4% and soft candies contain a larger fraction of moisture. Other candy products exist and include candies which incorporate various ingredients such as cream, butter and milk, which contribute to feel and flavor and fat based hard candies that may contain vegetable, dairy, or animal fats to modify flavor and feel. Furthermore, other ingredients may include gelling agents, aerating agents, and a variety of flavoring agents.
Candies comprised of two or more sections of differing colors are made by a variety of processes. Such technologies often require complex machinery and processing conditions and limit the designs that can be made.
Methods to produce predefined graphics are known in the art. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,660,318 to Yoon et al., herein incorporated by reference, a candy and process is described for printing a stereoscopic image to create a visually appealing candy. This process uses printing technology to produce individual pieces of candy. In U.S. Pat. No. 6,413,564 to Klacik et al., herein incorporated by reference, a process is described for creating a candy with a plurality of segments of varying colors and varying widths.
Crafting candies by hand is, of course, a well established art and does allow more complex color combinations. Some hand-crafted candies can include more elaborate shapes such as letters or figures. These candies are made by an artist that shapes individual colors into forms that resemble the letter or figure in a candy billet of substantial diameter (up to 25 cm or more diameter). The completed candy billet is then stretched to reduce its diameter and the letters or image remain, but are also reduced proportionally, resulting in hard candy that can fit comfortably in the mouth yet has an image within the candy that spells a message or is otherwise visually appealing. Although one can produce more complicated shapes when making a candy by hand, the process is slow, labor intensive, and greatly limits the amount of candy that can be produced.
It is desirable in the field of candy production to be able to provide such a candy product, and/or a candy product that contains complex shapes, as well as a need for candies that can be produced with a higher level of accuracy such that the images are of a higher resolution in the final product. In addition, a process is need that allows efficient production of such candies
To date, it has not been possible to produce a candy with predetermined shapes in a manner that enables quick production and unskilled labor. There are no commercially produced candy products on the market today that have such features.
It is an object of the present invention to provide an improved candy or confectionery making process. It is also an object of the present invention to provide a system and process for making visually appealing candy products, including hard and soft candies with characters or images within such candy. The present invention satisfies these objectives, and provides other advantages as described herein. Improved candy or confectionery and devices, systems, and methods for providing an improved candy or confectionery are provided.
In one embodiment, a candy product and a process for making a candy product are provided that comprises the steps of forming a candy billet, the candy billet having a longitudinal axis and a cross-sectional graphic distributed over a longitudinal extent of the candy billet; using an extruder to extrude the candy billet to form an elongated candy extrusion having a cross-sectional area less than a cross-sectional area of the candy billet; and cutting the elongated candy extrusion into a plurality of shorter candy pieces, wherein each candy piece substantially exhibits the cross-sectional graphic in reduced scale. A process for forming a candy billet is provided that includes the steps of providing at least one candy stencil; arranging the at least one candy stencil within an outer mold; providing a formable candy syrup mixture; and pouring the candy syrup mixture into the outer mold and candy stencils to fill voids. A do-it-yourself candy making workshop is also provided that comprises a billet station including a plurality of candy elements available for selection by a user to assemble a candy billet; an extrusion station having an extruder adapted to receive and extrude the candy billet to provide an elongated candy extrusion having a cross-sectional area less than a cross-sectional area of the candy billet; and a cutting station having a cutter operable to cut the elongated candy extrusion into a plurality of shorter candy pieces.
The following detailed description of embodiments of the present invention can be best understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, where like structure is indicated with like reference numerals and in which:
The present invention will now be described with occasional reference to the specific embodiments of the invention. This invention may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein. Rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art.
Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this invention belongs. The terminology used in the description of the invention herein is for describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used in the description of the invention and the appended claims, the singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. All publications, patent applications, patents, and other references mentioned herein are incorporated by reference in their entirety.
Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing quantities of ingredients, properties such as weight fraction, reaction conditions, and so forth as used in the specification and claims are to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term “about.” Accordingly, unless otherwise indicated, the numerical properties set forth in the following specification and claims are approximations that may vary depending on the desired properties sought to be obtained in embodiments of the present invention. Notwithstanding that the numerical ranges and parameters setting forth the broad scope of the invention are approximations, the numerical values set forth in specific examples are reported as precisely as possible. Any numerical values, however, inherently contain certain errors necessarily resulting from error found in their respective measurements.
Edible candy and devices, systems, and methods for production of such candy are provided. The devices, systems, and methods may be used to produce a variety of candy, with low moisture content through candy with high moisture content, and candy including a variety of ingredients, including fats and/or dairy products and/or other ingredients. These ingredients may be combined in a proportion such that the product being created is more typically identified as a baking product. For example, if flour, eggs, and butter (and/or oil) are combined with sugar along with other ingredients as is well know in the art of confectionery baking, the product may be a type of cookie dough. The term ‘candy’ is used herein to describe all such moldable materials.
The typical process for producing a sugar based hard or soft candy product includes heating a syrup of sugar, corn syrup, water, and other ingredients in a vessel to form a premixture, boiling the resulting premixture to produce a viscous material having a moisture content generally less than 20%. As is well known in the art, a desired moisture content of the final candy product can be achieved by heating the mixture to a predetermined temperature. This is a result of the thermodynamic equilibrium which is reached as the water evaporates from the mixture at a much higher rate than the sugar or sugars, with a corresponding rise in the boiling point temperature. At a given pressure (atmospheric-pressure cooking vessels, for example), the temperature defines the equilibrium condition. This does depend on the type of sugar employed, but is fixed for a given chemistry. For typical sugars used, it is well known that a given moisture content leads to a specific type or types of candies. Table 1 below is listing of typical candy processing data.
In some embodiments, the candy of the present invention is made of conventional ingredients. The primary ingredient is sweetener, which can be sucrose, sugar alcohols, fructose, corn syrup, natural or synthetic sweeteners, invert sugar, and combinations thereof, for example. Optionally, other ingredients such as fats, vegetable oils, dairy products, may be added for texture and mouth feel.
In one embodiment, production includes preparation of flowable masses of differing colors, each being an aqueous supersaturated solution of candy ingredients, and depositing the solutions through separate nozzles or other flow devices into a mold or mold set or mold and stencil or stencils where the final unit product is then allowed to solidify by cooling, followed by optional reduction in the cross sectional area.
In one embodiment, a composition of the flowable candy mixture is an aqueous supersaturated solution of about 40 to about 70% by weight refined cane sugar or beet sugar, about 30 to about 65% by weight corn syrup solids, and less than 5% by weight flavoring and/or coloring agent. For hard candy recipes, it has been found that a mixture in the range of 51%-61% corn syrup, 35%-45% refined cane sugar, and 1%-10% coloring agents plus flavoring agents is preferred.
During production, it is preferred to provide as many separate candy mixtures as there are colors and/or flavors in the desired final product. Thus, each flowable candy mixture has a predefined color, such color being created through a coloring agent or through use of a particular combination of ingredients that result in the desired color. There are numerous food-grade coloring agents in the prior art and available in the market for use with the invention.
For hard candy, the moisture content is typically in the range of about ½% to 4%, and soft candies have a higher moisture content, up to about 15%. Once the desired temperature is reached and the mixture thus has a desired moisture content, the mixture is discharged from the cooking vessel and placed into molds or cooled to a higher viscosity and processed further into shapes, for example.
When processing hard candies to form additional shapes, a temperature controlled table is preferred to cool the candy mass to a specified temperature such that the candy mass remains pliable, typically between 30 C to 100 C.
Referring now to the figures,
a) shows a mold 200 in the form of the letter “Y”. This mold 200 may be solid or hollow (solid shown), and made from a variety of materials, including steel, stainless steel, aluminum, other metals, plastic, wood, and other suitable materials. The mold 200 includes a mold top surface 201, a mold side surface 203, and a mold bottom surface 202. The length of the mold is L(m).
b) shows a sheet of candy 210 that includes a long edge 211, a short edge 212, and a front plane 213 and a rear plane 214 (not seen). The sheet of candy 210 has a width of w(s), length of l(s), and thickness of t(s). The moisture content of the sheet of candy 210 is preferably less than 20%, more preferably less than 10%, and most preferably less than 5% by weight. The sheet of candy 210 is produced such that it remains somewhat pliable at room temperature and does not flow easily. The thickness of the sheet of candy 210, t(s) is preferably less than about ½″, more preferably less than ¼″, and most preferably less than ⅛.″ The width of the sheet of candy 210, w(s) is defined by the height of the desired final stencil length as described in more detail below, and the length of the sheet of candy 210 is sized to be convenient when producing a stencil as described below which takes into consideration the length of the perimeter of the mold 200.
In one embodiment, during production of the sheet of candy 210, a starting candy mass of desired size is rolled to give a thinner candy mass as identified above and cut into individual pieces to create a sheet of candy 210 of predetermined size, or a plurality thereof. The resulting sheet of candy 210 is optionally coated with a layer of fatty paste, corn starch, parchment paper, or other release layer such that it minimizes potential for a set of sheet of candy 210 to sick together, and can be packaged and shipped and/or stored for easy use. Due to the sheeting process, it is preferred to prepare the sheet of candy 210 wherein the material is a hard candy, but certain soft candies will work. If the material is not a hard candy the stencil may optionally be enhanced through the use of a hardening agent, although a hardening agent may be used for hard candies as well. Optionally, the temperature of the candy may be controlled through various means to change how the candy will flow. For example, with a typical hard candy, a lower temperature will cause the hard candy to be more solid, and a higher temperature will cause the material to flow more easily.
After assembling the stencils 300 in the desired configuration within the outer mold 401, the next operation to produce candy according to a first embodiment of the present invention is to prepare the candy syrup mixture, with the desired moisture content, as well as flavoring(s), and/or coloring(s), and/or other ingredients, for pouring into the outer mold 401 and the stencils 300. Once the desired syrup mixtures are ready to pour into the matrix void 402 and the stencil voids 403, apparatus is arranged such that the desired syrups can be poured into the proper locations. For example, to produce a 2-color candy of red characters and yellow matrix, apparatus is arranged such that one tube or multiple tubes are directed from the red candy syrup pouring vessel into one or more stencil voids 403, and one or more tubes is directed from the yellow candy syrup pouring vessel into the matrix void 402.
Next, syrup is directed to flow at a specified temperature, and a specified flow rate, from the pouring vessels into the matrix void 402 and the stencil voids 403. Preferably, the rate at which the level of candy syrup rises within each of the stencil voids 403 and the rate at which the level of candy syrup rises within the matrix void 402 is similar, such that the difference in level between the fluid in any stencil void 403 and the level of the matrix syrup is small, for example less than ½″ difference in level. An inner stencil void 404 is shown and can be filled with either mixture, but generally the mixture that fills the matrix void 402 is preferred.
Alternatively, during the filling process, one tube may be used to fill each of the stencil voids 403 slowly while the matrix void 402 is filled slowly as well, attempting to minimize the difference in level between the matrix level and fluid levels within the individual stencil voids 403. However, if the stencil 300 are thick enough and the syrup is cool enough such that it will not melt or quickly melt a stencil 300, each may be filled individually without concern of flow-through or other leakage of the syrup before the matrix material is poured.
After the syrup mixtures are poured and cooled to a predefined temperature, which is warm enough to allow the newly made candy billet of candy to be worked in the case of hard candy, or room temperature or cooler if the moisture content is high enough in the final candy to allow working at lower temperatures. Optionally, at this point (or after bringing up to a working temperature if the candy billet was allowed to cool below a working temperature), the cross sectional area of the candy billet is reduced through one of several processes. The cross sectional area may be reduced uniformly or it may be reduced in a non uniform manner, such that the graphic or pattern appearing in the moldable billet takes a different form from that contained within the moldable billet. In this way, fun shapes can be obtained in a similar way as a fun-house mirror can distort a reflection
In one embodiment, the cross sectional area of the candy is reduced in an extruder.
The internal diameter or cross section of the loading zone 502 is preferably close in dimension to that of the candy billet, but larger such that the candy billet fits into the loading zone 502 easily, but with as small a difference as practically possible. Once the candy billet is loaded, the plunger 507 is used to push the candy from the loading zone 502 through the transition zone 504, into the exit zone 506 and then out of the extruder 500, with the plunger face 508 making contact with the candy billet. The plunger 507 can be pushed by any suitable mechanical or human means. Sealing materials, o-rings, gaskets, and other devices may be included on the plunger to prevent or minimize the candy from leaking around the perimeter of the plunger.
The extruder 500 may be made of any suitable material that can withstand the required temperature and pressure to extrude the candy, which will vary depending on the type of candy, for example by moisture content and temperature. Preferably, the extruder 500 is made of metal or plastic that is suitable for use in processing food.
Optionally, the extruder 500 may be heated. Heating may be accomplished through preheating, for example in an oven, or by wrapping the extruder 500 in a heating blanket, heating wires, operated under a heating lamp, or other device made to heat to a controlled temperature. Optionally, the heater may be built into the extruder 500 and may include insulation.
b) shows a front view of an extruder 500 that has a circular design, which is convenient to use when making a round candy.
In another embodiment, the cross sectional area of the candy may be reduced in a rolling device. In one embodiment, the roller is a 2-roller device as shown in
Generally, the rolling device 600 is used to reduce the cross sectional area of square, rectangular, or other candy shapes that include a plurality of flat sides. In use, the distance between the rollers is adjusted such that a reduction in dimension can be achieved and the candy billet is fed to the back side of the rolling device 600. Power or other means is applied to cause one or both of the rollers to begin to rotate and the candy will then be pulled into the rolling device 600 and reduced in dimension as it passes through the rolling device 600. Optionally, the rollers may be heated or the device may be operated under a heat lamp or other heating means.
An alternate stencil form, where each letter is connected to the next on a given line, such that one pour location can fill the entire word or string of characters, thus simplifying the filling process, demonstrates another embodiment of the invention. This one piece stencil 700 is shown in
A further embodiment of the invention is shown in
The candy billet 800 can be processed to produce a solid or fused candy billet, for example by heating and/or applying pressure depending on the moisture content and other properties of the candy, and then optionally reduced in cross sectional area as described above. It should be noted that the candy billet can be cut and made into larger candies, for example as a large lollipop. The candy billet 800 can also be directly reduced in diameter as described herein if desired.
This embodiment of “building” custom candy allows common candy stores to create custom candy in a simple manner, without the need for highly skilled artisans or other skilled labor. It also allows customers to create their own candy quickly and easily. The candy color segments and graphic segments with a variety of characters and other shapes made be made by a central processing facility in volume to reduce cost and shipped to and stocked in candy stores. Features such as hearts, or animal shapes, etc. that require a larger size may be made in various sizes. For example,
In one embodiment of the invention, candy segments with predetermined characters or other features contained therein can be made in a high speed process. The process begins with the preparation of the candy mixture, as described above. The mixture can be made from any one of a number of recipes and is brought to a predefined moisture content. At this point, the mixture is forced to flow into a mold that includes an outer mold, of a predefined shape, and inner molds that form the characters or other features within the mold. As opposed to some of the earlier embodiments described herein, the inner molds in this embodiment are made of typical mold materials, such as metal or plastic, and can be solid or hollow.
It is important that the inner molds are coated with a release agent. In the high speed manufacturing operation, the outer mold along with the inner mold or molds are placed on a surface that has been coated with a release agent, then filled with the candy mixture of predefined recipe and color. This can occur quickly as the inner molds are not at risk of deforming. The mold/mixture is then rapidly cooled to a predefined temperature wherein the mixture will not flow, or flows slowly enough to allow the next processing step to occur while maintaining the integrity of the character or other feature. At this point in the process the inner mold or molds are released and then filled with the desired candy recipe and color.
The next step is to maintain or bring the candy mass up to a predefined working temperature and reduce the cross sectional area of the candy in such a way to substantially maintain the character or characters and/or other feature or features in the candy. The reduced diameter candy shapes can be sized to a predefined length and optionally coated with a handling and/or storage material and optionally stored in moisture tight containers. These shapes can be consumed directly or used to create custom candy configurations as described earlier herein.
In a further embodiment of the invention, candy color segments and graphic segments are assembled into a block to create a candy billet with predefined shapes therein. In one mode of operation, each is a color segment made in one of a variety of solid colors, such as red, blue, green, white, etc. The size of the color segments are determined by the desired resolution of the image or graphic that will appear in the candy. For example, if a resolution of 1 mm is desired, 1 mm diameter segments (if round) or 1 mm×1 mm segments (if square sticks are used). Similar to how individual single color pixels are used to build an image on a computer or other type of monitor, a front view of a candy billet is assembled to build a desired image, limited only by the resolution, which is equal to the size of the candy segments. Along with the resolution of the candy segments, the size of the candy billet being produced limits the type and quality of the graphic being produced.
An example of this embodiment of the invention is shown in
The candy billet 1000 can be processed to produce a solid or fused candy billet, for example by heating and/or applying pressure depending on the moisture content and other properties of the candy, and then reduced in cross sectional area as described above. The candy billet 1000 can also be directly reduced in diameter as described above if desired.
The process of “building” custom candy from individual color segments and graphic segments as described herein allows common candy stores to create custom candy in a simple manner, without the need for highly skilled artisans or other skilled labor, and can be assisted greatly with an automated machine as described below. The starting candy segments with a variety of colors and/or graphic elements may be made by a central processing facility in volume to reduce cost and shipped to and stocked in candy stores.
In one embodiment, the candy billet is made in an automated process where a robotic or other automated device picks a candy segment of predefined color, type, flavor, etc. from one of various holding bins and places into the candy billet. In this manner, a candy billet can be constructed quickly and requiring little to no human labor. A microcontroller or computer could be used in such a system to control the pick-and-place operation and may optionally be interfaced to an input device that allows a user to draw a desired graphic.
In another embodiment of the invention, candy beads, chips, or other fragments are used to create a candy billet of candy.
In use, one or more inner bead molds 1102 are assembled into the outer bead mold 1101 in the desired configuration, for example spelling a message or name if letter characters are used, and candy beads or other candy fragments of desired color or colors and flavor or flavors are poured into and filling the space between the outer bead mold 1101 and inner bead mold 1102. Candy beads or other candy fragments of desired color or colors and flavor or flavors are poured into and filling the inner bead mold or molds 1102. If a non-edible inner bead mold 1102 is used, such as stainless steel, the inner bead mold 1102 is pulled out of the candy billet. Because the inner bead mold 1102 is thin, it will minimally affect the location of the candy beads 1103 and 1104, such that the general shape of the characters or other shapes or figures remain. Next, the candy billet is heated and/or subjected to pressure such that the candy beads or other fragments fuse or sinter together to some acceptable degree. If desired, the candy billet can now be reduced in cross sectional area to form smaller pieces that can comfortably fit into ones mouth.
Some moldable materials, such as sugar based candies, are very sticky and may require some boundary layer materials to be used in an extruder. Although simple coatings of corn starch or other materials may be used in any extruder, the boundary layer modification is intended to provide a way to use a significant layer of material to prevent sticking to an extruder.
In use, the boundary layer material 1207 is first loaded into the extruder 1200 and formed to the proper thickness using a mold or other device. Next, the candy billet 1208 is loaded into the extruder 1200, followed by the keeper plate (if detachable), and then the plunger 1204. Force is applied to the plunger 1204 and moldable material 1208 is then extruded. The boundary layer material 1207 may slowly degrade and be swept away with the moving moldable material 1207, but will greatly reduce the friction and sticking of the moldable material 1208, thus leading to a higher quality product.
Referring now to
Although the invention has been described with respect to specific preferred embodiments for a complete and clear disclosure, the appended claims are not to be thus limited but are to be construed as embodying all modifications and alternative constructions that may occur to one skilled in the art and which fairly fall within the basic teaching therein set forth.
This application claims priority to and incorporates herein by reference the contents of each, in their entirety, U.S. Provisional Patent Application entitled EDIBLE CANDY PRODUCT AND METHOD FOR MAKING SAME with Ser. No. 61/061,982 and filed on 16 Jun. 2008, U.S. Provisional Patent Application entitled METHODS AND DEVICES FOR USE WITH MOLDABLE MATERIALS with Ser. No. 61/117,088 and filed on 21 Nov. 2008, and U.S. Provisional Patent Application entitled FORMING DEVICES AND METHODS FOR USE WITH MOLDABLE MATERIALS with Ser. No. 61/139,630 and filed on 22 Dec. 2008.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61061982 | Jun 2008 | US | |
| 61117088 | Nov 2008 | US | |
| 61139630 | Dec 2008 | US |
