Patent Application
20100151078
The invention relates to a method and a device for manufacturing pasta products, less than 50% of the starch in which is digestible in the gastrointestinal tract. In addition, the invention relates to the pasta products manufactured in this way, and to a raw material dry mixture for manufacturing these pasta products.
Pasta products are regarded as healthy foods, since they are manufactured out of healthy raw materials. As a hedge against the increasingly encountered diseases in conjunction with our modern civilization, such as sugar diabetes (diabetes), cardiopulmonary diseases (arteriosclerosis) or tumors, in particular in the large intestine, it is proposed that we introduce various changes in our eating habits and/or changes in our basic food staples. On the one hand, it is suggested that we eat more slowly, and as a consequence, less given the feeling of being full that is reached before finishing. A diet less rich in carbohydrates is also suggested.
In an effort to satisfy this need, the percentage of easily digestible carbohydrates was reduced in numerous foodstuffs by adding proteins, nutritional fibers, etc. Soya, sweet lupins or the like can be used for these purposes.
In addition, film binders (hydrocolloids), e.g., xanthan, galactomannan, inulin, etc., were mixed in during the manufacture of starch-containing foods, like pastas or breads. This makes it possible to impede, and hence slow, the enzymatic action on the starch molecules required for starch digestion.
This yields a slow and steady resorption of the glucose that result from the enzymatic breakdown of starch, thereby preventing excessive fluctuations in the blood sugar level (low-glycemic effect), and simultaneously evoking a longer-lasting feeling of fullness in the consumer.
Therefore, a portion of the starch contained in these foods enters the large intestine undigested, providing nutrients to the intestinal bacteria there (prebiotic effect).
In addition, this measure makes it possible to influence the textural properties of the foods (organoleptic effect).
However, these three aspects—low-glycemic, prebiotic and organoleptic effects—cannot be optimally realized using these or similar measures alone. This is already hard enough in baked goods, but even more difficult for pastas, since their cooking properties are also to be optimal.
Therefore, the object of the invention is to provide a method and a device that make it possible, proceeding from raw materials with or without gluten protein, to manufacture high quality pastas, which have an as low-glycemic and particularly pronounced prebiotic effect as possible on the one hand, and have optimal cooking properties and responsive organoleptic properties on the other.
This object is achieved with respect to the method by manufacturing pastas containing less than 50% starch that can be digested in the gastrointestinal tract as follows:
A raw material dry mixture containing flour and/or semolina and protein along with water, vapor and at least one active substance are supplied to a closed, force-conveying reactor, in which mixing produces a moistened raw material mixture, which is alternately subjected to kneading and working while exposed to a predetermined temperature and pressure during a predetermined retention time in the reactor. This partially converts the starch into a solubilized or swellable state, thereby working together with the protein and active substance to form a matrix permeating the dough obtained in this way. Whether the proteins contain gluten or water-soluble proteins or not here plays a secondary role.
The dough obtained in this way is then molded into defined dough structures, and the molded dough structures are dried into pasta products.
The interplay between water, vapor, active substance and starch during alternating exposure to kneading and working under defined temperature, pressure and retention time conditions makes it possible to manufacture gluten-containing or gluten-free pasta products with the low-glycemic, prebiotic and organoleptic properties described above, as well as optimal cooking properties.
In the method according to the invention, the active substance used is preferably a plant emulsifier, in particular a monoglyceride and/or a diglyceride. It is here advantageous to mix in roughly 0.5% w/w to 5% w/w of the plant emulsifier. This yields an optimal density of starch-lipid complexes through the respective incorporation of a glyceride chain into an amylose helix. The plant emulsifier makes it possible to achieve good product properties (organoleptic and cooking properties).
It is particularly advantageous to supply a plant hydrocolloid as an additional active substance. Combining the hydrothermal treatment of the starch, which is preferably gelatinized to at least 20% in the process, with the plant emulsifier and the hydrocolloid yields a starch matrix that is especially resistant to attack by the digestive enzymes. This makes it possible to achieve a reduced bioavailability (digestion) of the starch in the pasta products manufactured in this way measuring less than 50%. The hydrocolloid here not only forms a barrier directly on the surface of starch grains that did not burst and remain largely intact, or on the surface of starch grain fragments, but also an indirect or “upstream” barrier by helping to make the digestive juices in the small intestine more viscous, slowing the diffusion of the glucose molecules formed by the already slowed enzymatic starch degradation to the wall of the small intestine, and resulting in a lowered glucose resorption rate (low-glycemic effect). Lastly, this results in a majority of the non-degraded starch and a portion of the already degraded starch gets into the large intestine, where it serves as food for the intestinal bacteria, the metabolic products of which have a positive impact on intestinal health (prebiotic effect).
The active substance can also be a swelling flour, in particular a swelling flour with delayed swelling, which preferably involves a flour that contains the active substance galactomannan, obtained from carob seeds, tara seeds, guar seeds or mixtures thereof. The galactomannan can be added in a low to high-viscosity form.
Resistant starch can also be metered in, wherein native starch prepared hydrothermally on-line is preferably added in liquid form as a slurry or suspension.
In the method according to the invention, at least one of the following additives can also be included:
The time of exposure to vapor in the reactor best ranges from about 10 s to 60 s, preferably from 20 s to 30 s.
The forced conveyance and alternate loading of the raw material mixture in step a) can advantageously take place in a force-conveying two-screw mixer, which preferably is fitted with kneading elements and working elements, wherein forced conveyance is achieved via intermeshing screw elements or conveying elements (mechanical energy input).
The kneading elements are rotationally symmetrical, truncated elements on the screws, wherein the truncated axes are identical to the respective screw axis. These elements narrow the free cross section in the two-screw mixer along the conveying direction. This produces a kneading effect in the force-conveying two-screw mixer, with a stretching of the dough very much resembling that achieved by “kneading with the ball of the thumb”.
The working elements are conveying screws with recesses or openings in the area of the screw web. These openings can be arranged radially outside in the comb area of the screw webs, similarly to a loophole, or they can be arranged radially further in, similarly to a window or porthole in the screw webs. This yields a kneading effect in the force-conveying two-screw mixer with a division and reconstitution of the dough very much resembling “finger kneading”.
The dough in step b) can advantageously be molded in a single-screw extruder. The dough structure is here preferably compacted to a density greater than 1 g/cm3. This helps to solidify and stabilize the starch-protein-active substance-matrix. The matrix consisting of partially gelatinized cereal starch, cereal protein and at least one active substance in the compacted dough hence forms a barrier against enzymatic starch degradation. It envelops the starch grains that have not burst and are largely intact. This matrix acts similarly to a “three-component gluten” or “multi-component gluten”, making it more difficult for enzymes to act on the starch grains or starch fragments embedded therein, and thereby slows their degradation into glucose.
In addition to the mechanical energy input into the raw material mixture or dough described further above to generate the matrix, step a) also involves a hydrothermal treatment with exposure to water, vapor, temperature, pressure and time, wherein:
The mixing ratio between vapor, which has a relatively high temperature, and water, which has a relatively low temperature, makes it possible to efficiently set a target temperature for the process.
These measures are required for the partial gelatinization of the starch necessary to form the matrix.
The raw material dry mixture can consist of gluten protein-free raw materials, e.g., flour and/or semolina based on corn, rice, millet or barley, or of starch. This is important for the manufacture of special pasta products according to the invention for humans allergic to wheat gluten.
In the method according to the invention, all procedural steps are best monitored, regulated and controlled on-line during the process.
The object according to the invention is achieved with respect to the device by means of a system for implementing the method according to the invention described further above. This system according to the invention consists of:
The metering devices are preferably arranged in procedural order along the product conveying direction, wherein at least a metering device for raw material, metering device for liquid material or water, a metering device for vapor and a metering device for active substances are respectively arranged in sequence. If needed, another sequence can also be used. In particular, the sequence of metering devices for the water metering device, active substance metering device and vapor metering device can be changed.
The system according to the invention preferably has a recirculating device for returning residual dough obtained in the molding device while shaping or in the drying device while drying.
The force-conveying reactor is preferably a force-conveying two-screw mixer with conveying elements, kneading elements and working elements. The molding device is preferably a single-screw extruder.
The pasta products according to the invention, in which less than 50% of the starch can be digested in the gastrointestinal tract, is manufactured in particular based on the method according to the invention described above. It has 0.5% w/w to 5% w/w of a plant emulsifier, and at least 20% of the starch contained therein is gelatinized.
The emulsifier used in the pasta product is preferably a monoglyceride and/or a diglyceride, and preferably at least 30% of the starch therein is gelatinized. Other than the emulsifier, it can contain at least one of the following additives as well:
In the pasta products according to the invention, the content of maltose that was obtained through hydrolysis with beta-amylase and determined via iodometric titration ranges from 150 to 450 mg of maltose per gram of starch.
The loss in double refraction in the native starch grains in the pasta products relative to the double refraction of the native starch grains in the raw material as measured via polarization microscopy preferably measures at least 20%.
The raw material dry mixture according to the invention for manufacturing the pasta products according to the invention contains 0.5% w/w to 5% w/w of a plant emulsifier, in particular a monoglyceride and/or a diglyceride.
Other than the emulsifier, it can also exhibit at least one of the following constituents:
Additional advantages, features and possible applications of the invention can be gleaned from the following description of examples based on a drawing, which are not to be construed as limiting. Shown on:
The dry raw materials (e.g., flour, semolina based on wheat or corn) along with the water and vapor are mixed together with the active substances (emulsifier, hydrocolloid) in the force-conveying mixer/kneader 6 and heated, wherein the energy input takes place mechanically or hydrothermally. The mechanical energy input is effected via kneading elements, conveying elements, in particular in the form of conveying screws, working screws and kneading blocks or kneading clusters, while hydrothermal energy input takes place via the interaction between water and vapor. The pasta mass manufactured in this way then enters into the press 7, where it is degassed and compressed, before it is molded in the pressing head 8 by dies and knives (not shown), and dried in the dryer 9, if necessary.
Instead of the continuous process described here with the use of a two-screw extruder for mixing purposes, use can also be made of a discontinuous process with mixing trough. The process as described above then ensues starting at the press 7.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 2004 056 337.3 | Nov 2004 | DE | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind | 371c Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CH2005/000533 | 9/7/2005 | WO | 00 | 5/29/2009 |
