Patent Application
20220202038
The present technology pertains to plant-based meat alternatives and analogues and methods for their production and manufacture. In particular, but not by way of limitation, the present application provides a plant-based meat analogue with muscle-like fibers.
In some embodiments the present technology is directed to a plant-based meat analogue produced by the process comprising: shearing a texturized product to allow the ingress of fluids; adding the texturized product to a salt solution; and heating the texturized product in the salt solution for one or more predetermined time-periods at one or more predetermined temperature ranges. Additionally, the salt solution may comprise other ingredients. In some embodiments, the texturized product is further heated in a second solution for a second set of one or more predetermined time-periods at one or more predetermined temperature ranges. In some embodiments, the process further comprises centrifugation of the cooked texturized product. In various embodiments, the texturized product is limited to a high moisture extrudate (“extrudate mixture”) that egresses a high moisture extrusion process.
In the description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth, such as particular embodiments, procedures, techniques, etc. to provide a thorough understanding of the present technology. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present technology may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details.
The accompanying drawings, where like reference numerals refer to identical or functionally similar elements throughout the separate views, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated in and form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrate embodiments of concepts that include the claimed disclosure, and explain various principles and advantages of those embodiments.
The methods and systems disclosed herein have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.
The approaches described in this section could be pursued but are not necessarily approaches that have previously been conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated, it should not be assumed that any of the approaches described in this section qualify as prior art merely by virtue of their inclusion.
Meat analogues and meat alternative products made out of plant proteins (including also protein enriched flours, concentrates and isolates) and plant products are gaining in popularity, this is due to a variety of factors including increased environmental consciousness; specifically the effects the meat industry is known to have on climate, and increased health consciousness in the general population and the promotion of low cholesterol, low fat protein alternatives.
However, in their current state, meat analogues, meat alternatives and plant-based foods and proteins may suffer from several disadvantages and shortcomings relative to natural meat. Some obvious disadvantages and shortcomings of current alternative meat products are their taste and texture, which are different from and fail to replicate the taste and texture of natural meats, these alternatives also fail to resemble meats in color and other physical aspects. Finally, affordability and wide availability of these meat analogues and plant proteins are a challenge since producing meat alternatives are much costlier and more difficult than industrial scale meat production.
Therefore, in the field of meat analogue or meat alternative manufacturing processes, it is generally accepted that there are several goals that the final meat analogue product and the manufacturing process itself must meet; these include alternative meat products that are desirable to the senses, tasty and affordable. More specifically, the alternative meat products should have a texture very similar to that of natural meats, including, but not limited to, poultry, beef, and pork. A meat-like texture allows the bite or crunch of a meat analogue product to feel like that of natural meats to the consumer. Other goals are for the meat analogue to taste like and have the same color and/or physically resemble natural meats. Another very important goal is for the process of making the meat analogue product to be scalable, highly efficient, and largely free from manufacturing defects and disruptions. Production line efficiency allows the meat analogue to be affordable and widely available as a reasonable and realistic alternative to animal proteins to the general population.
To realize these goals, the meat analogue industry has moved towards a High Moisture Extrudate (HME) extrusion process that includes shearing. It is generally accepted that the HME extrusion process involves several standardized steps, these steps may be modifiable, altered, added to, or removed depending on the mixtures, recipes and ingredients used as well as the desired product outcome. However, the standard process includes feeding and conveying ingredients into an extruder, mixing, heating and melting the extrudate mixture and compressing the mixture and then to achieve and/or maintain the desired meat-like texture, to press the extrudate mixture into a cooling die which further cools and structures the mixture. Post-processing steps may also be added after the HME extrusion process after the cooling die which may include cutting and shearing the protein, or more typically after the extrudate mixture leaves the cooling die, and these steps may include cutting, shearing, cooking, freezing, storing, or adding flavors, fats and other food manufacturing and culinary additives as described in this document.
A texturized product, or in other embodiments an extrudate mixture that is fed into and/or is created in an extruder may be comprised of any food manufacturing ingredient including and not limited to plant proteins, soy or pea proteins, e.g. concentrates or isolates, plant protein concentrates, protein isolates, meat proteins and compositions, animal milk proteins and protein products and concentrates, as well as additives such as flavor enhancers, preservatives, PH agents, color additives, fats, bonding agents and compositions, salts as well water, other solutions and liquids. The extrudate mixture may be pre-mixed before feeding into the extruder or separate components may be added individually into the extruder, or a combination of both.
In the analogue meat industry, the texture of the texturized product or an extrudate mixture ideally should have long meat-like fibers in parallel that are placed on top of each other. One way to achieve a meat-like texture is by having a laminar flow of an extrudate mixture in the cooling die of an HME extrusion process, whereby the flow of the mixture is such that a pattern resembling a half moon shape is created. This pattern is a similar pattern to what is found in natural meats. Furthermore, a thickness up to 18 mm (and beyond in special applications) is ideal since it resembles the thickness of natural meats like that of a steak or a chicken breast. These two components, plant-based meat analogue fiberization as well as the thickness of meat analogues together create a realistic culinary meat-eating experience.
Generally, after the HME extrusion process the extrudate mixture is cut or sheared to determine the shape and size of the final product and to allow the ingress and uptake of moisture by the extrudate and then cooked in water for around 20 mins to increase juiciness, creating a meat-like feel to the bite as part of a series of post-processing steps. However, cooking in water softens the extrudate, and the longer the extrudate is cooked in water, the softer it gets, losing its meat like fiberization that was produced in the extruder and cooling die portions of the HME extrusion process.
In various embodiments, the current technology is directed to creating a meat-like texture, that resembles whole muscle fibers in animal meat products, by heating a texturized product (or in some embodiments an extrudate mixture) in a salt solution. Heating a texturized product or an extrudate mixture in a salt solution ensures that the softening effect created by cooking/heating in water does not occur, while the texturized product or extrudate mixture is still able to achieve the desired ‘juiciness’ due to the ingress of water into the product, and still retaining the meat-like texture in the product. While not limited to the HME extrusion process, in various embodiments, the processes taught in this application are applied to extrudate material/an extrudate mixture that comes out of the cooling die as part of an HME extrusion process. In other embodiments, the processes taught are applied to a texturized plant-based product created by any other process, including but not limited to an HME extrusion process.
In several embodiments the texturized product, or alternatively, the HME/extrudate mixture is made up of 1-part soy proteins concentrates and/or isolates and 2-parts water, or primarily 1-part soy proteins concentrates and/or isolates and 2-parts water with other additives. Other combinations of plant proteins concentrates and isolates and other plant based materials may also be used. Additionally, other combinations of protein and water are possible.
In various embodiments a meat-like texture is created by processing the extrudate mixture coming out of the HME extrusion process. First the extrudate is sheared and/or cut, whereby several cuts are made in the extrudate mixture, by a cutter and/or by feeding the extrudate into a roller mill. Optionally, the extrudate mixture may be placed in a salt solution (preferably comprised primarily of water and a salt), then the mixture in the solution is heated up for a predetermined time-period at predetermined temperatures.
In several embodiments, a meat-like texture can be created in the plant-based extrudate mixture by processing the extrudate mixture coming out of the HME extrusion process. First the extrudate is sheared and/or cut, whereby several cuts are made in the extrudate mixture, by a cutter and/or by feeding the extrudate into a roller mill. Then the extrudate mixture is placed in a salt solution (preferably comprised primarily of water and a salt), then the mixture in the solution is cooked for 20-25 minutes in a cooking tumbler or other suitable cooking apparatus, which could work batch wise or continuously. Afterwards a second heating step at a temperature not higher than 85° Celsius (185° F.). Preferably the extrudate mixture that is placed in the salt solution is primarily composed of 1-part soy protein and 2-parts water (it may have had other ingredients or additives added to it during the HME process). However other plant-based mixtures and plant-based proteins and HMEs may also be used.
In some embodiments, a plant-based meat-like texture can be made by processing the extrudate mixture coming out of the HME extrusion process. First the extrudate is sheared, whereby several cuts are made, by a cutter or by feeding the extrudate into a roller mill. In some embodiments, the extrudate is coated with salt and allowed to sit (the time for allowing the mixture to sit varies depending on the thickness and composition of the extrudate mixture), and then the mixture is heated in water for 20-25 minutes. Preferably cooking is done at temperatures up to 100° Celsius. Preferably the extrudate mixture that is placed in the salt solution is primarily composed of 1-part soy protein and 2-parts water (it may have had other ingredients or additives added to it during the HME extrusion process). However other plant-based mixtures and plant-based proteins and HMEs may also be used.
In various embodiments, shearing is carried out during the HME extrusion process in the extruder to prepare the hot melted proteins for building a fibrous matrix in the cooling die. After excretion of the extrudate mixture from the cooling die, the extrudate mixture is cut, for example by a fixed cutting grid at the outlet of the cooling die. A second shearing of the texturized product out of the cooling die can also be carried out either before or after the cutting step after the extrudate mixture is excreted from the cooling die. This second shearing step allows the opening of the fibrous structure of the extrudate mixture or texturized product. In various embodiments, the cooking temperature may vary throughout the cooking process, and differ at different timepoints of the cooking process.
In various embodiments, as the extrudate mixture is excreted out of the cooling die outlet, it is allowed to cool down and slightly harden for an optimal period of time and reach an optimal temperature. Once it reaches the optimal temperature, it is sheared, for example by rolling drums or millings. In some embodiments, once it is sheared at the optimal temperature, it can be cooked in a salt solution, and/or go through the series of steps and processes mentioned in this document (for example the series of steps as listed in
In some embodiments, the texturized product or extrudate mixture is cooked in a solution, for a set period of time, then taken out and cooked in a different solution. One example is initial cooking in a salt solution and then taking the extrudate mixture out and cooking it in a water based no-salt solution. In some embodiments a certain amount of time must pass while cooking in the salt solution before taking the extrudate out and cooking it in a water solution for another period. In various embodiments, initial cooking and/or heating is carried out in a salt solution, then the texturized product or extrudate mixture goes through or is placed in a centrifugation step or process where the salt from the texturized product or extrudate mixture is removed or reduced.
In some embodiments, initial cooking and/or heating is carried out in a salt solution, then the texturized product or extrudate mixture goes through or is placed in a centrifugation step or process where the salt from the texturized product or extrudate mixture is removed or reduced, and then finally the texturized product or extrudate mixture is placed and heated and/or cooked in a water based no-salt solution. Various embodiments also employ a combination of different cooking times for different stages of the process, different temperatures and different solutions.
In various embodiments, a drying step is added to the processes defined above, by either letting the extrudate sit and drain, or by using a suitable manufacturing drying apparatus. In other embodiments a freezing step is added to the cooked extrudate, either before or after drying depending on the desired effect. In various embodiments, an optional step between the shearing/cutting process and the cooking/heating process may be added where ingredients may be added to the extrudate mixture or HME, these ingredients include and are not limited to spices, spice extracts, salts, oils, flavors, PH agents, preservatives, coloring agents, plants, seeds, animal products etc.
Salts in the solution may be composed of a variety of salt types ranging from sodium-based salts, and including but not limited to table salts, kosher salts, Himalayan pink salts, kala Namak sea salts, infused se salts, Sel Gris, rock salts, flake salts, black or red Hawaiian salts, pickling salts, smoked salts, iodized salts, mineral salts, fine or coarse gained salts, smoked sea salts, organic salt, grey salt, French sea salt, Fleur de Sel, grinder salt, finishing salt etc. Non-sodium based salts may also be used such as potassium salts like potassium chloride. Salt-substitutes such as canallite, kieserite, polyhalite, sylvite, kainite and langbeinite among others may also be used.
Other liquids may be used as a base for, or in the cooking salt solution instead of, or in addition to water, including plant-based bullion with flavors and/or spices/spice extracts and/or conservatives and/or minerals of nutritional value and/or coloring substances, broths and stocks, plant-paste solutions, flavored, enhanced and/or water solutions with PH agents, fat additives and other agents. The salt solution may also be of varying concentrations, with some cooking solutions using a high salt concentration, while others a lower concentration, depending on the desired texture effect as well as the ingredients used in HME/extrudate mixture.
Salts and salt solutions are not generally employed or utilized in the plant-based industry to improve texture, for a variety of reasons, one of which is due to the health implications of adding salt to foods (for example, due to the links of hypertension to high sodium consumption). The general trend in the food industry and especially in the plant-based and health industries is to lower sodium in plant-based foods and proteins. Furthermore, the salt-content of many plant-based mixtures and ingredients, for example pea-based proteins, already have a high sodium content, therefore the addition of salt to these proteins or isolates or plant-based mixtures goes against industry practice.
For all embodiments described in this document, the extrudate mixture/HME may be comprised of varying parts of plant-based proteins and compositions, these include but are not limited to soy protein concentrates, pea protein isolates, rice protein, soy protein isolates, wheat protein, canola protein, sunflower protein, oat protein, potato protein, fava bean or other bean type proteins, mung bean proteins, mycoproteins, chia seed protein, hemp seed proteins, etc. In various embodiments, animal-based milk proteins, whey, casein and other milk proteins and concentrates may be used. In some embodiments animal meats and derivatives may be used as part of the extrudate.
While the present technology is susceptible of embodiment in many different forms, there is shown in the drawings and will herein be described in detail several specific embodiments with the understanding that the present disclosure is to be considered as an exemplification of the principles of the present technology and is not intended to limit the technology to the embodiments illustrated.
While specific embodiments of, and examples for, the system are described above for illustrative purposes, various equivalent modifications are possible within the scope of the system, as those skilled in the relevant art will recognize. For example, while processes or steps are presented in a given order, alternative embodiments may perform routines having steps in a different order, and some processes or steps may be deleted, moved, added, subdivided, combined, and/or modified to provide alternative or sub-combinations. Each of these processes or steps may be implemented in a variety of different ways. Also, while processes or steps are at times shown as being performed in series, these processes or steps may instead be performed in parallel or may be performed at different times.
The various embodiments described above, are presented as examples only, and not as a limitation. The descriptions are not intended to limit the scope of the present technology to the forms set forth herein. To the contrary, the present descriptions are intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the present technology as appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art. Thus, the breadth and scope of a preferred embodiment should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments.
The present application claims the priority benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 63/132,335 filed on Dec. 30, 2020 and titled “Plant-Based Meat Analogue with Muscle-Like Fibers,” which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63132335 | Dec 2020 | US |
