Patent Application
20220151282
A field of the invention are processes and a devices suitable for use in the process, by which food products are produced from food raw materials, which food products are preferably compact, resp. have no air inclusions.
EP 3 524 068 A1 describes a plunger that presses flour-based prefabricated dough out of a cylinder, and the resulting filament can be deposited in several layers, one on top of the other, following a superficial heating with air at 60 to 90° C.
EP 3 270 716 B1 describes a process for the production of a meat substitute strand by extruding a mixture of at maximum 4 wt.-% flour, 40 to 70 wt.-% water and 15 to 35 wt.-% plant-based protein through a cooling die, wherein 2 to 15 wt.-% oil and/or fat are introduced downstream of the extruder inlet.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,280,785 B1 for 3D printing of food mass deposits a mass strand from a dispensing head in multiple layers onto a movable carrier. Examples 1 to 3 also mention heating the masses to be extruded to 60 to 70° C.
WO 2015/020660 A1 describes a process for the production of an extruded meat substitute, wherein an extruded mass is divided into at least two separate partial streams prior to depositing.
At least one of the partial streams can be passed through a pump. The temperature of the mass can be adjusted to a temperature between 20 and 180° C.
The process and the device are explained by an example and with reference to the FIGURE, which schematically shows
FIGURE—a preferred device in longitudinal sectional view through an extruder.
A preferred device and a process produce, preferably continuously, dimensionally stable food products are produced from food raw materials without using a hollow mold for shaping. Preferably, the process produces dimensionally stable food products from food raw materials continuously and without intermediate storage, which food products are preferably compact, resp. have no air inclusions, and the device is suitable for use for the process. Further preferably, the process shall produce dimensionally stable food products in a finished shape, e.g. without a shaping recess surrounding the food product and without cutting the food products.
In a preferred process, a pumpable mass is produced from the food raw materials, preferably continuously, which pumpable mass has an elevated temperature and is immediately subsequently deposited on a carrier and cools on the carrier and thereby solidifies. Preferably, the complete mixture of the raw materials forms the mass and the food products consist of the mass, so that e.g. no added water is separated off during the process. Optionally, the food products can be surface coated and/or heated subsequently to the depositing and cooling.
The process has the advantage that it produces dimensionally stable food products on a carrier from a mass having a high protein content and optionally having a low starch content, which carrier preferably is flat, e.g. a plate or a conveyor belt, and the process is carried out without using a hollow mold to shape the pumpable mass.
The invention achieves the object by the features of the claims and in particular provides a process including the steps of
The mixture or the cooked mass consists, minus the water evaporating from the surface. Therein, it has shown that, after cooling to room temperature in room air, the cooked mass exhibits only slight to no weight loss due to evaporating water.
Optionally, the food product can subsequently be superficially coated and/or superficially heated, e.g. by hot-air treatment or deep-frying.
Because the cooked mass exits from the outlet of the extruder housing, or from a temperature-controlled conduit connected thereto, and is deposited on the carrier at a temperature of at maximum 100° C., preferably below 100° C., the food product also consists of the mass having substantially the same water content.
It has shown that a mixture, or resp. a cooked mass produced therefrom in the extruder, at the exit temperature, when deposited along lanes to form adjacent mass strips on the carrier, results in a dimensionally stable and compact or substantially air bubble-free food product. This is attributed to the fact that the cooked mass has a high protein content, e.g. a protein content of 15 to 50 wt.-%. The mixture and the cooked mass produced therefrom in the extruder preferably contains or consists of
15 to 50 wt.-% protein, which is preferably plant-based protein,
0 to 5wt.-% carbohydrates, which are in particular plant-based starch,
optionally 0 to 15 wt.-% additives, and
balance water, preferably 85 to 50 wt.-% water.
The additives are e.g. selected from the group including table salt, flavoring, colorants, fats and oils, preservatives, plant-based fibers, thickeners, and mixtures of at least two of these. Preferably, the additive does not include a thickener and the mixture is free of thickeners selected from natural and modified polysaccharides, e.g. carrageenan, guar gum, carboxymethyl cellulose, cellulose, starch, modified starch, locust bean gum and gelatin. Preferably, the mixture is free of added glycerol and/or sucrose.
Water-soluble additives can be fed in admixture with the plant-based protein and/or in admixture with water, e.g. into the inlet end of the extruder or through a feed port which is arranged downstream thereof. Additives can generally be fed through at least one feed port which is arranged downstream of the inlet end of the extruder.
Plant-based protein can e.g. be at least one of plant-based protein isolate, plant-based protein concentrate, and/or plant-based flour, e.g. pumpkin seed flour, cereal protein, in particular oat protein, field bean protein, pea protein, soy protein, or sunflower protein. Preferably, the plant-based protein is a flour, protein concentrate, or protein isolate, e.g. of pumpkin seed flour, of field bean, of pea, of sunflower, or is protein isolate of cereals, in particular of oats.
The components of the mixture or resp. of the cooked mass add up to 100 wt.-% with water.
Preferably, a pump is connected to the outlet of the extruder housing, which pump is controlled to convey cooked mass only during depositing cooked mass for a single food product, and optionally does not convey mass during a movement of the carrier relative to the outlet in an area of the single food product, and/or does not convey mass during a movement of the carrier relative to the outlet between areas of the carrier where mass is deposited, to produce separate food products, or resp. to prevent the formation of threads or droplets between separate food products.
Fat and/or oil can be introduced into the inlet end of the extruder housing in liquid or solid form in admixture with the plant-based protein, or can be fed into the extruder housing separately from the plant-based protein through a second feed port which is arranged downstream of the inlet end, optionally ahead or downstream of a feed port for water. Further optionally, fat soluble flavoring, e.g. meat flavoring, can be fed in admixture with fat and/or oil.
The extruder housing is heated, preferably having a double jacket flowed-through by a temperature-control medium, or an electrically heated housing. The extruder housing is heated in at least one section, which is preferably arranged immediately ahead of the outlet, to heat the mass to a temperature of 60 to 100° C., preferably 70 to 95° C., and further preferably, the extruder housing in the area of the inlet end, further optionally in the area of an optional feed port for water, is temperature-controlled to a temperature of below 60° C. or below 50° C., or is not temperature-controlled, resp. has no double jacket.
The depositing of the cooked mass in lanes directly adjacent to one another is preferably carried out with a movement of the carrier relative to the outlet of the extruder housing or resp. to the heated conduit, the movement being at a speed which, for the exiting mass flow of the cooked mass, produces mass strips which lie directly adjacent to one another and on top of one another in at least two planes, and which fuse with one another or adhere to one another along their contact surfaces.
The process has the advantage that the mass from which mass strips are deposited on the carrier, which fuse without further ado to form dimensionally stable food products, without further processing by pressing or cutting, is produced immediately beforehand and preferably continuously from its constituents and is heated in the process. This allows the process to proceed continuously on the basis of raw materials without storing an intermediate product. The device is therefore set up for a process that does not firstly produce a food mass which is then formed using separate machines for shaping.
Therein, dimensionally stable food products obtainable by the process according to the invention are dimensionally stable in particular at 0 to 100° C., preferably between 20° C. and 95° C., so that they can e.g. be heated by heating in a frying pan, by microwave irradiation, by infrared irradiation or by applying an electric current, while substantially retaining their shape.
The device suitable for use in the process has an extruder housing in which at least one driven screw is arranged, the extruder housing having an inlet end for the introducing of protein, an outlet lying opposite in the conveying direction, and optionally having at least one feed port for water, further optionally at least one second feed port, e.g. for fat and/or oil, which second feed port is arranged downstream of the feed port for water, wherein the extruder housing has, at least in a section directly adjacent to its outlet, a temperature-control device, in particular a double jacket flowed-through by a temperature-control medium, which double jacket is set up to heat the mass to a temperature of 60 to 100° C. during rotation of the at least one screw. A temperature-controlled conduit is preferably connected to the outlet of the extruder, which conduit is e.g. set up to keep the cooked mass at the temperature it has when exiting from the extruder housing. Alternatively, the temperature-controlled conduit can be temperature-controlled to cool the cooked mass to a temperature below the temperature the mass has when exiting from the extruder housing, e.g. to cool the mass to a temperature of below 10° C. to below 30° C. or to below 40° C. or to below 50° C. the temperature the mass has when exiting from the extruder housing. Further preferably, a pump is connected between the temperature-controlled conduit and the extruder housing, which pump is controlled to convey cooked mass from the extruder while the cooked mass is deposited in mass strips on the carrier, and which pump is set up to not convey mass when the carrier moves away from a position in which a food product has been produced. The extruder can e.g. be a single screw extruder, preferably a twin screw extruder or a planetary roller extruder.
The pump, which e.g. is a gear pump, has the advantage that after a period in which it does not convey any mass, by being controlled to convey it conveys in a controlled manner when subsequently conveying cooked mass. Therein, the at least one screw of the extruder can be driven to the same number of revolutions or to a reduced number of revolutions when the pump is not conveying mass and when it is conveying mass. Therein, the reduced number of revolutions is one at which the at least one screw still rotates at at least 100 RPM, e.g. reduced by 10 to 50% of the number of revolutions at which the at least one screw rotates when the pump is conveying. Continued rotation of the at least one screw, particularly even when the pump is controlled not to convey, preserves the properties of the mass in the extruder and e.g. reduces a higher thermal load on the mass at the extruder housing. In contrast to a pump, a valve connected to the outlet of the extruder would have the disadvantage that, when opened following an interruption in the discharging of cooked mass, the latter would briefly discharge in a jerky manner and with a higher mass flow than after continuous discharge of the mass.
The figure shows an extruder, in the housing 1 of which a rotationally driven screw 2 is arranged and which has an inlet end 3 for solids, in particular protein, optionally in admixture with a portion of the water of the mixture. In the conveying direction of the screw 2, downstream of the inlet end 3, a feed port 13 is connected to the housing 1, through which feed port 13 liquid components of the mixture, in particular water and/or fat above its melting temperature and/or oil, can be introduced. Between the feed port 13 and the outlet 5, an optional second feed port 6 is connected to the housing 1, e.g. for introducing fat and/or oil, optionally in admixture with fat-soluble flavoring.
As a temperature-control device, the housing has a double jacket 7 which is divided into sections through which temperature-control medium can flow separately.
According to an optional embodiment, a temperature-controllable conduit 8 is connected to the outlet 5, which conduit 8 for temperature control has a double jacket 9 through which temperature-control medium can flow. Through this conduit 8, the outlet 5 of the extruder housing 1 is displaced, wherein by the temperature control the cooked mass produced in the extruder can be kept in a controlled manner at a temperature which is at or slightly below its exit temperature from the housing 1. A pump 12 is connected between the temperature-controllable conduit 8 and the outlet 5 of the extruder, as is generally preferred. Generally optionally, a nozzle 10 can be arranged terminally on the conduit 8 as an outlet. Below the outlet, herein formed by the nozzle 10, a carrier 11 is arranged which is movable in a controlled manner in two, preferably in 3 dimensions, in order to, during movement of the carrier 11, deposit the cooked mass exiting from the outlet on the carrier 11 along lanes in mass strips which lie directly adjacent to one another and which lie one on top of the other in at least two planes.
As a plant-based protein, pea protein isolate, approx. 85 wt.-% protein content, at 25 wt.-% of the mixture was continuously introduced into the inlet end 3 of a twin screw extruder and water at 75 wt.-% of the mixture was continuously introduced through a feed port 13 connected downstream of the inlet end 3. The total flow rate of mixture through the extruder could be adjusted in the range of 4 to 20 kg/h. The housing 1 of the extruder was temperature-controlled to about 100° C. by a double jacket through which a water-glycol mixture flowed. This temperature-controlled double jacket extended between the feed port 13 for water and the outlet 5 of the extruder. A temperature-controlled double-walled conduit 8 was directly connected to the outlet 5 of the extruder, the outlet of which conduit 8 was arranged as a nozzle 10 above a table 11 movable in a controlled manner in three dimensions. The double jacket of the conduit 8 was temperature-controlled to approx. 95 to 100° C. The table 11 was controlled in such a way that the mass strip exiting from the outlet 10 was deposited by a reciprocating movement of the table 11 in directly adjacent mass strips and then again in one or two further layers of directly adjacent mass strips. This arrangement of mass strips from the cooked mass formed the dimensionally stable food product. It was compact or had essentially no air inclusions. The surface of this arrangement of mass strips, which surface lied opposite to the carrier 11, showed a corrugation, which was due to the mass strips which were deposited closely next to one another and fused.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102020211412.9 | Sep 2020 | DE | national |
The present application claims the priority under 35 U.S.C. §119, of German patent application 10 2020 211 412.9, filed on Sep. 10, 2020.
